REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Bride ties the knot just days after losing her arm to a crocodile

Zanele Ndlovu and Jamie Fox had their love tested by a crocodile who tore off Ndlovu's arm but they still decided to keep their wedding date.
UPDATED FEB 17, 2020
(Source: Getty Images)
(Source: Getty Images)

Former tennis player Zanele Ndlovu was enjoying a canoe ride on the mighty Zambezi river with her fiance Jamie Fox on April 30 when tragedy, in the form of an 8-foot-long crocodile, struck.

The couple survived the attack but Ndlovu lost an arm to the animal. But that did not stop them from tying the knot in a beautiful ceremony the following Saturday.

“The canoe started deflating and it all happened so fast. The crocodile bit me again and pulled me into the water,” Ndlovu told a local Zimbabwean paper. “My husband was thrown out on the opposite side so the boat was between us.”

The crocodile attempted to drown the 25-year-old by pulling her underwater. She would probably have died there and then but luckily, her fiance leapt to her rescue and started fighting off the animal with his bare hands.

“Jamie swam over to where I was struggling with the crocodile that was trying to pull me to the bottom of the river,” Ndlovu recalled. “He grabbed my waist and with the other hand he rained blows on the crocodile.”

Soon, the tour guides joined Fox and helped fight off the animal which finally let go of Ndlovu.

“I was shouting, trying to save her,” Fox said, according to People. “She was not complaining of pain when we managed to pull her out of the water, maybe because of the shock. We were hoping the doctors would save her arm but that was not to be.”

Ndlovu was immediately rushed to a local hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She made it through the ordeal safely but the doctors could not do anything about her lost limb. Ndlovu lost half her right arm in that attack. Soon, however, she was glad to have found her other half in Fox.


The couple, who got engaged in February, were already set to be married on May 5. They decided to keep the date, though they opted for a smaller wedding in the hospital’s chapel. In the end, nothing, not even a crocodile, could stop the two lovers from joining each other in the embrace of matrimony.


Fox, who is a British citizen, had been dating Ndlovu for 18 months prior to the wedding. He reportedly wanted to marry Ndlovu from the very first time he met her. The couple now hopes to get a visa for Ndlovu so she can settle in the UK with her new husband. Ndlovu and Fox hope to be able to start a family and forget the trauma of the ordeal.


"I get depressed by people who come here and start crying, you know," Ndlovu said. "I know people feel pity for me at this moment but being more sorrowful does not help the situation. I look forward to friends and family who are going to make me laugh and not remind me of what is going on. I actually spend my time comforting my relatives."


“I love her even more and this incident actually made me feel the deep meaning in our vows,” Fox, who came to Zimbabwe for the first time in 2016, told the Chronicle. “For better or worse, in sickness and in health, that’s just how our love is going to be. I never even at one point had the thought of calling off the wedding.”


Fox is reportedly glad that they managed to escape with their lives and make the wedding date, despite all the tragedy that occurred.

According to the Telegraph, the crocodile responsible for the brutal attack was found and killed by park rangers a few days after the incident. The loving couple are unperturbed and optimistic about their future and trying not to let the unfortunate incident ruin the rest of their lives as a family.

“I spent a lot of time preparing for my wedding day, running around for a venue, decor and so forth,” Ndlovu said. “I didn’t know fate would have me wed in a hospital chapel, with one limb missing. But in all this, I’m not complaining. My wedding was the best, and I have a wonderful husband.” 

Ndlovu and Fox are looking forward to moving past the difficulties caused by the terrible incident and living the rest of their lives together as husband and wife.

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW