A man narrowly survived after being dragged to the bottom of a river and “thrown through the air like a rag doll” when he was attacked by hippo while canoeing on holiday in Zambia.

Roland Cherry, who was on a five-week holiday through southern Africa with his wife, Shirley, sustained severe bite wounds across his body, including a 25cm (10in) wound to his abdomen, as well as a thigh injury and dislocated shoulder in the attack.

Nurses at a hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the 63-year-old was later taken for treatment, said they had never met a survivor of a hippo attack, as most were fatal.