- Durban - Police are searching
for a huge python that reportedly swallowed a child at the weekend.
-
- The boy, aged between five and seven, was picking mangoes
in an old orchard near Lamontville on Sunday afternoon.
-
- Inspector Jack Haskins of the Pietermaritzburg dog unit
said an older boy, who was sitting in a tree about 100m away, told police
he saw the snake catching the boy.
-
- He described how the snake had twisted itself around
the boy, took the boy's head into its maw and swallowed him.
-
- On Wednesday police tried to find the group of children
who had been picking mangoes. They believe the children may be from the
nearby Umlazi settlement.
-
- Craig Smith of the Fitzsimmons Snake Park said the snake
must be between 5.5m and 6m in length, judging by marks left in the sand.
-
- The witness's description of the snake's behaviour convinced
Smith that the boy had, indeed, been swallowed by a snake.
-
- There were signs of a struggle in the grass and the snake
left tracks on its way to a nearby stream. The tracks ended at the waterside.
-
- Smith said it could take up to two months before the
snake hunts again.
-
- http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,1113,2-7-1442_1287719,0
0.html
|
