A hippopotamus from Uganda made the headlines after swallowing a baby boy before spitting the child out alive.

2-year-old Paul Iga was playing near the edge of Lake Edward in the Albertine Rift when he was approached by a massive hippo that picked him up with its giant mouth and swallowed him halfway.

Fortunately, the incident was witnessed by Chrispas Bagonza who immediately began shouting and throwing rocks at the animal in an attempt to distract it.

The hippo, which appeared to be taken by surprise by the local man’s response, then spat out the toddler and ran back to the water from whence it came.

Following his near-death experience, Paul was rushed to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and vaccinated against rabies.

Despite all the odds, the baby boy not only survived the hippo attack but also made it out alive almost unscathed.

As the local authorities confirmed, the boy was released from the hospital shortly after he was patched up and given a rabies vaccine.

“This is the first such kind of incident where a hippo strayed out of Lake Edward and attacked a young child,” Ugandan Police confirmed in an official statement.

“It took the bravery of one Chrispas Bagonza, who was nearby, to save the victim after he stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to release the victim from its mouth.”

While hippo attacks remain responsible for killing over five hundred people each year, it is not typical of them to swallow their prey and then vomit it out.

As the police believe, the local who intervened likely saved the child’s life by scaring the animal enough to make it spit out the baby and run for the water.

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