Hippo capsizes boat in Ivory Coast, leaving 11 people missing — including children and baby

A rogue hippopotamus capsized a boat packed with passengers in the Ivory Coast, leaving 11 people — including children and a baby — missing, according to authorities.

The boat, carrying 14 passengers, was traveling along the Sassandra River in the southwestern town of Buyo on Friday morning when it was overturned by the hippo, according to a statement from Myss Belmonde Dogo, the West African country’s Minister of Cohesion and Solidarity.

“It is with deep sorrow that we learned that 11 people, including women, girls and an infant, have gone missing following a boat capsized caused by a hippo,” Dogo wrote.

The ages of the passengers involved are not yet known.

Only three have been confirmed to have survived the freak accident, authorities said.

Search and rescue operations are still underway to look for the missing, the politician wrote.

“Distressed by this tragedy that upsets us all, the Gouvernement de Côte d’Ivoire joins the pain of the parents and relatives of the deceased and expresses its solidarity to the survivors,” Dogo continued.

Roughly 500 hippos reside in the Ivory Coast, mostly inhabiting southern rivers, CBS reported.

The massive mammals are the most common cause of animal attacks that cause deaths or injuries in the country, according to a 2022 study by Ivory Coast researchers.

Different estimates for the number of people killed each year by the deceptively deadly animals begin at around 500, the outlet said.

Hippos are the second-largest land mammals after elephants and can weigh a whopping 7,000 pounds. They can be 11 feet long and roughly 5 feet tall, according to animal experts.

In May 2023, one child died and over 20 villagers went missing after a hippopotamus capsized a boat in Malawi.