Two killed in hippo attacks in Kenya

Two people have been killed in separate hippopotamus attacks in Kenya, according to local officials.

A Chinese tourist, identified as 66-year-old Chang Ming Chuang, was reportedly attempting to photograph a hippopotamus at a wildlife resort on Lake Naivasha, 90km (56 miles) north-west of the capital, Nairobi.

Witnesses say the tourist got too close to the animal, which fatally bit him on the chest. A second Chinese tourist was also injured in the attack and is recovering in hospital.

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Separately, a local fisherman was also mauled and killed by a hippopotamus only a few kilometres from the site of the first attack.

Local official David Kilo told Kenya’s Standard Media that a “rise in water levels had contributed to hippo attacks”, as the animals sought pasture closer to resorts around the lake.

The deaths are the sixth due to hippo attacks in the area this year, and the BBC says that hippos “kill an estimated 500 people every year in Africa”.