A teenage footballer was snatched and killed by a 16-foot crocodile while training along the banks of a river in Mozambique.
Estevao Alberto Gino, 19, played for Atletico Mineiro de Tete, a club in Mozambique's second division, and was training near the Zambezi river in the western province of Tete.
His coach, Eduardo Carvalho, explains: 'He was training and after jogging he stretched his hands into the water and that was when the crocodile caught him.'
He was not with his team-mates at the time but two neighbours who witnessed the attack estimated the crocodile to have been about 16-foot long, and said 'they could not do anything' to save him.
Estevao, a centre back, had played for the team - named after a Brazilian team - for several years, starting in the youth team.
On their Facebook page they wrote: 'We are mourning our player, our brother, our friend, our son and our eternal central defender Estevao Alberto Gino, only 19 years of age with a promising future, who was the victim of a crocodile on the banks of the Zambezi river.
They offered their condolences to his family and described his death as an 'irreparable loss'.
Local police spokesman Leonel Muchina said the player's body has not yet been found.
Crocodile attacks are common along the Zambezi river.
Last week villagers in neighbouring Zimbabwe cut open a crocodile and found the remains of an eight-year-old boy inside the beast.
Source: DailyMail, HWN Africa.
: 2017-03-24 19:11:46 | : 1685