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A bride whose arm was bitten off by a crocodile five days before her wedding today told how her British husband-to-be helped her to fight off the beast.

Former national tennis player Zenele Ndlovu, 25, was canoeing in Zimbabwe with her fiance Jamie Fox, 27, when the 8ft Nile crocodile shot out of the water and tried to drag her to the bottom of the river.

She said: “The waters were very calm and we had guides and there were about seven boats in the water when the crocodile just jumped out.

“It jumped out of the water and bit a chunk of my right arm together with the side of the canoe which started deflating and it all just happened so fast. The crocodile bit me again and pulled me into the water.”

Mr Fox, from Bromley, was thrown to the opposite side with the boat between the pair as he desperately tried to help his future wife.

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

“The pain was excruciating but Jamie was by my side and I summoned the strength to fight through it and although he was in shock, he calmed me down.”

One of the tour guides who was first aid-trained applied a tourniquet from the first aid kit while the other called for a helicopter to whisk Miss Ndlovu to the nearest hospital.

Doctors said they had to amputate what was left of her arm.

Five days after the attack on April 30, the couple went ahead with the wedding, marrying at the Bulawayo hospital chapel in front of family and friends.

Miss Ndlovu said: “I spent a lot of time preparing for my wedding day. I didn’t know that fate would have me being wed in a hospital chapel with one limb missing.

“But in all this I am not complaining and my wedding was the best and I am so happy we proceeded despite all the drama and I have a wonderful husband.”

The crocodile was hunted and killed on Friday.

Ms Ndlovu has since been discharged from hospital, with the couple now finishing their visa paperwork to let them both move to the UK.

They met 18 months ago when Mr Fox, who works for the National Citizen Service — a government-funded programme focusing on teaching skills to teenagers — was on a work programme in Zimbabwe.

He said: “It is a miracle she is here there is no other way to explain it. I just want her to get better soon and then we can plan our lives together.

“I never even at one point thought of calling off the wedding. I love her even more and this incident made me feel even more the deep feeling behind our vows.

“For better or worse, in sickness and in health, that’s just how it’s going to be”.