Hippo swallows boy, 2, whole while playing near lake… only to spit him out ALIVE

A HIPPO swallowed a two-year-old boy playing near a lake, only to spit him out alive.

Little Paul Iga was playing near his home just a few yards from Lake Edward in Uganda when the hungry hippopotamus struck.

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

Luckily, Chrispas Bagonza, a horrified local, spotted the child and began throwing stones at the hippopotamus in an attempt to stop it.

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

Paul was taken to a nearby clinic and then transferred to a hospital in the town of Bwera, where he received a precautionary rabies vaccination.

Uganda Police said in a statement: “This is the first incident of its kind in which a hippopotamus has strayed from Lake Edward and attacked a young child.

“It took the courage of a certain Chrispas Bagonza, who was nearby, to save the victim after stoning and scaring the hippopotamus, causing it to free the victim from its mouth.”

In October, a woman tragically died when she was swallowed by a 22-foot python in Indonesia.

But a lobster diver swallowed by a whale in Provincetown, Massachusetts, miraculously survived.