An Ethiopian pastor has been killed in a crocodile attack during a baptism, according to reports.
The BBC reports that the Protestant pastor, identified as Docho Eshete, was conducting a mass baptism of 80 people at the southern end of Lake Abaya near the town of Arba Minch on Sunday when a crocodile leapt from the water and attacked him.
“He baptised the first person and he passed on to another one,” one local told the BBC. “All of a sudden, a crocodile jumped out of the lake and grabbed the pastor, pushing aside the person he was baptising.”
Members of the congregation and fisherman working on the lake reportedly prevented the crocodile from taking the pastor to deeper water but he died after being bitten on the legs, back and hands.
Lake Abaya is Ethiopia’s second largest lake and home to Nile crocodiles which can grow up to six metres long.
