Zambia crocodile attack: Hampshire teen to return to UK
18-year-old says she is "very, very lucky" to have survived
Last updated 6th Dec 2021
Amelie Osborn-Smith was left fighting for her life after the 10ft reptile dragged her into a death roll as she swam with friends in the Zambezi river near the Victoria Falls, The Sun reports.
Speaking from her hospital bed in a video by Medland Hospital, she said:
"You don't really think in that situation, obviously people say you see your life flash before your eyes or whatever but you don't, you just think 'how do I get out of this situation?'
"And your brain just goes into overdrive and you just think how to get out but I was just very, very lucky.
"When the accident happened I fully accepted the fact I was going to lose my foot and I accepted that and I'd said to all my friends, it's fine, I've lost my foot, I'm still alive and then I was told my foot is fine and I'm going to be able to walk again and it's such a relief."
The teenager, from Hampshire, was on a white-water rafting trip during a gap-year visit to Zambia where her grandmother owns a farm, according to The Sun.
The paper reported that she was rescued by friends who punched the crocodile before dragging her back in a boat.
She was flown by helicopter to an aid post in nearby Livingstone and then on to the capital Lusaka, 240 miles away, where surgeons managed to save her foot, the Sun reported.