'I saw his face as he waved goodbye:' Woman who saved hubby from croc gets award

Kavango - A Namibian woman who fought off a crocodile that was attacking her husband has been awarded a police prize for "extraordinary" bravery.

"Men must see how prepared our women are to save us from danger," Kavango East governor Samuel Mbambo was quoted as saying at a ceremony to hand over a trophy to Elizabeth Shintangu, 29.

Mbambo added: "I am not saying jump in the river and fight a crocodile, but the fact is that she did it without thinking twice"

Shintangu says she told hubby Matheus Kativa not to go for a bath in the Kavango River on the day of the attack in February last year "but he insisted," reports The Namibian.

She went along with him to do the laundry and then she heard him scream.

"The water was all red with blood. I then saw his face as he waved goodbye. I swam fast after them, and held his left hand and started pulling him back. Part of his right hand was still in the reptile's mouth," she was quoted as saying.

At the ceremony, Shintangu's husband said that "all women are brave but they just wait for the right moment", the paper added.

The New Era reported last month that a crocodile had killed a 28-year-old woman in Divundu, also in the Kavango East region.