/By Avi Selk/
A Protestant pastor has been killed by a crocodile during a baptism ceremony in an Ethiopian lake, the BBC has reported.
Docho Eshete and about 80 members of his congregation had gathered at the southern end of Lake Abaya on Sunday morning, close to a national park where enormous crocodiles have been seen covering the shore.
Normally, the animals are a tourist draw. But the London Telegraph reported that Lake Abaya has lately experienced a shortage of fish, and the crocodiles have become aggressive towards humans, who have little chance to see them in the lake’s murky red waters.
“He baptised the first person and he passed on to another one,” a resident of the nearby town of Arba Minch told the BBC’s Amharic language service.
“All of a sudden, a crocodile jumped out of the lake and grabbed the pastor.”
While hardly an everyday occurrence, crocodile attacks are a known risk in Ethiopia – as in any region where they thrive.
When the Wabe Shebelle river in south-east Ethiopia flooded in 2006, government boats came under attack, hindering relief and rescue efforts, Reuters reported.
An Israeli conservationist did not think any crocodiles would dare attack his canoe when he took it out on the Ethiopia’s Omo River in 2014, The Jerusalem Post reported.
One did, and the conservationist lost a chunk of his leg before he escaped.
Eshete was not that fortunate. A police officer, Eiwnetu Kano, told the BBC that fishermen and residents of the town tried to rescue the pastor.
Ultimately, they only managed to save his body from the crocodile – dragging it from the lake with fishing nets as the crocodile disappeared into the water.
The Telegraph reported that lake and riverside baptisms are common in many African countries, notwithstanding the risk.
Last month, a crocodile in Zimbabwe ripped off the arm of Zanele Ndlovu, five days before her marriage to her British fiance, Jamie Fox.
