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Mashonaland West Correspondent

Wild animals in and around Lake Kariba have killed 12 people in the past two months, with authorities urging residents to be more careful when moving around or engaging in fishing activities.

Six people were fatally attacked by crocodiles, four were killed by elephants, while two died after being attacked by hippos.

The latest incident involved the death of 38-year-old Nyarai Njigura, who was attacked and killed by a crocodile while fishing along the shores of the lake in the resort town of Kariba on Monday last week.

According to police, Njigura was fishing together with Muchaneta July and two others who reported the case to Nyamhunga Police Post.

In an interview, police Acting Officer Commanding Kariba District Superintendent Misheck Ngorima expressed concern over the latest incident.

“We are disturbed by the incident and I would like to encourage people to avoid fishing in deep waters,” Supt Ngorima said.

He said police would soon conduct awareness campaigns to educate the fishing community on the dangers they face during their activities.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said: “We always say to the community that they must stay away from water bodies and they should look around on the banks of the lake before fishing. It is unfortunate that another life has been lost.”

Circumstances leading to the incident indicate that Njigura and her friends were fishing along the Lake Kariba shores when her fishing line got entangled.

Her friends advised her to leave the fishing rod as the place was deep and infested with crocodiles.

Njigura ignored the warning and waded into the lake and the crocodile grabbed her by the neck before disappearing into the deep waters with her.

July and the other colleagues threw stones in the water to scare the giant reptile before they rushed to report the incident to the police.

Police notified Zimparks authorities who went to the scene of the incident, but could not find the deceased’s remains on the day.

Njigura’s body was recovered the following day and Zimparks rangers shot the crocodile.

Cases of people killed by crocodiles along the shores of Lake Kariba increase during summer when fishmongers                  flood its shores.