A 70-year-old Zimbabwean from Marutaya village outside Beit Bridge had his testicles and part of his manhood torn to shreds, while he sustained a fractured hand and a seriously mauled back when he was attacked by a crocodile.

Mr Jonah Maturure of Marutaya village said he nearly met his death when he decided to take his tomatoes for sale across the Chivake River, whose water level was swelling because of the rains that had pounded the area the previous night. He said when he got to the river, the water level was such that he thought he would easily cross, as he had crossed via the same place earlier on. He removed his trousers before getting into the river, as he did not want them to get wet. He entered the water wearing only his shirt and underwear.

He said he put the trousers, whose pockets contained some money and his identity document, in the tomato box that he was carrying on his head and got into the river, with the water at chest level. "When I was almost in the middle of the river, I was attacked by a crocodile. It mauled a chunk of my buttocks before attacking my manhood, tearing my testicles into shreds.

"It then grabbed my hand and I could hear my bones cracking. Realising that I was losing the battle, I let go of the box of tomatoes that I was carrying on my head and it fell into the river with a thud, making some kind of noise. The crocodile released its grip on my hand and moved towards the noise."

He said both his shirt and underwear were torn in the attack and the battle that ensued. When he got out of the water, he was in his birthday suit, with blood oozing uncontrollably from the ferocious attack wounds. He had to ask for clothes and assistance from a home a few metres from the river. He was rushed to a local hospital, from where he was referred to a bigger hospital where his condition is now stable.

He added that he was not the first victim as people from the area had constantly been attacked and maimed, while some were killed by the crocodiles. Maturure however, declined to have his photo taken.

Cases of people being attacked or killed by the deadly reptiles are not new in Zimbabwe. Recently, another Mozambican illegal immigrant escaped death by a whisker after he was attacked by a crocodile while trying to swim across the Limpopo River into South Africa.