The little boy was taken to hospital for treatment and then released after the terrifying incident
(Picture: ES Composite)A two-year-old boy had a miracle escape when a hippo swallowed him and then spat him out out while he was playing near his home in Uganda.
Paul Iga was grabbed by the animal which then swallwed half his body a few hundred yards from the edge of Lake Edward, police said.
A local resident, Chrispas Bagonza, was watching the horrifying incident unfold and threw stones at the hippo in an attempt to stop it.
It appeared to work - the hippo then threw up the toddler before walking back to the water.
“It took the bravery of one Chrispas Bagonza, who was nearby, to save the victim after he stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to release the victim from its mouth,” police said.
The boy was reportedly taken to hospital for treatment and then released after taking a rabies vaccine.
Ugandan Police said in a statement: “This is the first such kind of incident where a hippo strayed out of Lake Edward and attacked a young child.”
Hippos are the world’s deadliest large land mammal, killing several hundred people every year in Africa.
