Hippo swallows boy, 2, then spits him out alive

A two-year-old boy was swallowed whole and spat out alive by a hippo while playing near his home by a lake in Uganda.

A hippo swallowed whole a two-year-old boy in Uganda, only to spit him out alive moments later.

Little Paul Iga was playing near his home just metres away from Lake Edward when the hungry hippo struck, The Sun reports.

The animal grabbed the boy in its jaws, before starting to swallow him The Daily Telegraph reported.

Luckily a horrified local, Chrispas Bagonza spotted the child and started pelting the hippo with stones in a bid to stop it.

His plan worked and the hippo spat out the boy and swam away into the lake.

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Young Paul was playing near the lake when the hippo grabbed him. Picture: Twitter

Paul was rushed to a nearby clinic and was then transferred to a hospital in the town of Bwera, where he was given a vaccine for rabies as a precaution.

Ugandan Police said in a statement: “This is the first such kind of incident where a hippo strayed out of Lake Edward and attacked a young child.

“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.”

The hippo swallowed the child whole but spat him out later. Picture: Getty Images

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission