A teenage British backpacker attacked by a crocodile on the Zambezi River has said she is ‘very, very lucky’ to be alive.
Amelie Osborn-Smith, 18, was left fighting for her life after the 10ft killer clamped its jaws round her calf and dragged her into a death roll after a day white water rafting near the Victoria Falls in Zambia.
She was saved by brave pals who dived into the water after her and punched the croc on the nose until it let go of her before she was airlifted 240 miles to hospital in the capital Lusaka.
Speaking from her hospital bed at Medland Hospital, she said in a video shared on its hospital page: ‘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, is hoping to fly home ‘within the coming 48 hours’, the clip says.
Asked what she would say to other youngsters worried about heading out on an adventure after hearing about her horrific experience, she said: ‘Don’t let it put you off because it doesn’t happen often.
‘I was very lucky, but I’ve seen that your life can be over so quickly. If you’re going to live thinking you’ll regret anything, you won’t have a fulfilled life.
‘Do it while you can. Don’t let one incident hold you back.’
Croc attacks at the falls — said to be the world’s best for rafting — are rare as they like calm water downstream.
But in 2018 Zimbabwe tennis ace Zanele Ndlovu had her left hand and right arm bitten off.
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