Crocodile kills pregnant woman

By Paul Pindani

A 40-year-old pregnant woman Anna Chikaya who was attacked and killed by a crocodile at Alpha dam on Sunday was buried in Guruve on Tuesday.

The deceased was seven-months pregnant.

After hearing the news, villagers and farm workers in their drove rushed to the dam wall to take a glimpse of the body.

Audry Dziyamupamba, a fisherman who was fishing about 300 metres away from where the incident occurred, tried his best to rescue the woman and later retrieved the body.

Narrating the ordeal to H-Metro, Dziyamupamba said he heard a woman calling his alias name (Bugwa) on top of her voice to help her friend who had been snatched by a crocodile.

“I was with my colleague fishing when we were disturbed by a loud wailing voice of a woman calling for my help.

“So I ran to where she was and saw from a distance that the deceased was upside-down. Her legs were visible with her head facing into the river,” said Dziyamupamba.

He added: “When I arrived at the scene, I discovered that she had been attacked by a crocodile.

“She was dragged about 40 metres and was submerged for 30 mins before being brought back to the exact same spot where she had been attacked,” he said.

Dziyamupamba said that after a while, he saw some bubbles and knew that the woman might have been fighting and struggling to free herself from the jaws of death.

He said that he then hesitated to jump into the dam to render his support since it was too deep.

“She was submerged for another 17 mins while I stood there pondering my next move. After about 20 minutes, the bubbles subsided and I knew that she had met her fate,” narrated Dziyamupamba.

He heard a loud bang and discovered that the woman was being pushed by the predator to the spot where she had been attacked.

“I then realized that it was the woman who was being pushed to the shore by the crocodile.

However, the crocodile was still clutching onto her leg with it’s big jaws.”

“Ipapo ngwena iyi yakabva yasimudza musoro wayo kunze kwemvura uku yakangoruma gumbo rake. Ndakanhonga zidombo hombo ndokurova ngwena iyi mumusoro ikabva yamuregedza. Ndakabva ndamhanya kundo vaburitsa mumvura,” he said.

The other woman had rushed back home to inform her husband about what had transpired at the dam but was not available.

“I then called the police, officials from the department of National Parks and Wildlife and other villagers,” said Dziyamupamba.

Dziyamupamba said that the woman was about seven months pregnant and her body was ferried to Makonde Christian Hospital before it was taken to Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital where the baby was cut out from her.

Another eyewitness who requested not to be identified said that the incident had left the people of Mhangura shell-shocked

” It’s very saddening that Chikaya lost her life in such a tragic way. Her death under such circumstances is very regrettable,” said the eyewitness.

He said that the community had been robbed of a hard-working mother and the future of a nation, that was soon to be conceived.

“Tarwadziwa zvikuru. I want to urge our villagers to be on high alert for crocodiles especially during this rainy season,” he said.

Biggie Katena, Chikaya’s husband could not be contacted on his mobile. H-Metro