A 71-year-old man of Kaindu in Central Province area, has had his right femur crushed by a Hippo while fishing in the Kafue River. Sitali Sililo who was trying to catch fish when his boat was flipped over by a hippo which then attacked him and crushed his right upper thigh. Mr. Sililo was fortunately rescued by Mushingashi’s security department who received a distress call that a fisherman had been attacked by a hippo.
The team, through Mr. Sameki who is Mushingashi’s Security Assistant Supervisor, said following the distress call, they urgently coordinated the emergency assistance to rescue Mr Sililo.
“Knowing the injuries described, remoteness of the fishing village and lack of vehicle access to it, I arranged for a security boat to rescue Mr. Sililo and transport him to the nearest vehicle collection point on Mushingashi and to then transfer the patient over to the pre-requested Zambia National Service (ZNS) Kalenda Hill ambulance and medical team which was approximately 60km’s away,” Mr. Sameki said.
Mr Sameki and his security team had used their first aid skills to stop the bleeding, brace the broken leg and calm the panicked Mr. Sililo, before urgently transporting him to meet the ambulance at the rendezvous point.
“The ambulance team were very thankful for the assistance from the scouts. It was a great team effort between the community members who reported the attack and Mushingashi security team as well as the ZNS Kalenda Hill medical team to help Mr. Sililo get the urgent medical attention he needed, to save his life,” Mr. Sameki said.
And Mr Sililo in recounting the ordeal which happened on March 6th (2023) while in hospital at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) said that he had gone fishing in the morning at around 07:00 hours, when the hippo attacked him.
“I was in the water in my canoe and all I remember is that as I was trying to catch fish, I saw myself flying into mid-air and then dropped into the water after having my canoe being overturned by the hippo. It then attacked me and broke the bone in my upper right thigh,” he exclaimed in pain.
Mr Sililo who has since had his broken bone replaced with a metal bar says he is still in excruciating pain and has further called on well-wishers to come to his aid in terms of food support.
“Navutika (I am suffering) because I am in so much pain. All I can say is that I thank God I survived that day. One other thing that I am asking for is for Government or well-wishers to help me with food stuffs. My relatives are unable to meet all my needs and so I ask if I can be assisted in any way,” he said.
