A hippo destroyed a fishing boat carrying four young fishermen in Lake Victoria and killed one of them.
Fredrick Odundo, Samuel Odundo, Ezekiel Aginga and Vincent Jura were on a routine night fishing expedition off Nyaudenge beach, East Yimbo ward.
They were attacked by the hippo on Thursday at about 9pm.
Yimbo East MCA Francis Otiato said attacks were increasing and warned fishermen against intruding into hippo breeding areas.
Stephen Omondi of the beach management unit said the animal attacked their boat and tore it into two pieces.
Samuel and Aginga jumped into the water and swam to shore. Jura clung to a piece of the shattered boat.
Frederick, however, was disoriented and swam out into the lake where the hippo caught up with him and tore him apart.
“Fredrick got confused during the harrowing ordeal and swam in the wrong direction in the lake where he met his death," Omondi said.
Jura was rescued by other fishermen in a motorboat.
Frederick's body was retrieved on Saturday and taken to the Bondo Subounty Hospital mortuary.
Otiato asked the National government to intervene and help solve the perennial human-wildlife conflicts in the lake.
