A two-year-old boy had survived a potentially fatal attack by a hippopotamus in Uganda after grabbing the child in its massive jaws when he was playing near his home, the Ugandan Police Force said. 

According to a statement from the police, two-year-old Paul Iga was playing on December 4 outside his home on the edge of Lake Edward in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The hippo approached the child, grabbed him by his head, and swallowed the top half of his body.

Fortunately, a local resident named Crispas Bagonza saw the partially devoured child hanging out of the river giant’s jaws and started pelting it with rocks.

This caused the hippo to spit the small boy out and flee back to the lake.

“It took the bravery of one Chrispas Bagonza, who was nearby, to save the victim after he stoned the hippo and scared it, causing it to release the victim from its mouth,” the Ugandan Police Force wrote in a statement.

Police said that the child was rushed to a nearby hospital but had only suffered injuries to his hand and has now fully recovered.

“This is the first such kind of incident where a hippo strayed out of Lake Edward and attacked a young child,” police said.

Although hippos are herbivores and do not eat humans for sustenance, they are highly dangerous, killing approximately 500 people a year across Africa, according to National Geographic. 

“Instinctually, wild animals see humans as a threat, and any interaction can cause them to act strangely or aggressively,” the police said.

The semiaquatic hippo is one of the largest mammals on Earth. They can weigh up to 4,000 kg and grow to 5 metres long.

A toddler was saved from the massive jaws of a rogue hippo by a brave passerby | Business Insider