A nine-year-old girl in Swaziland was killed last week after being dragged along by a donkey.
Nothando Dlamini had gone with her sister to fetch water from a nearby river on Friday 24 July.
The pair often took their grandfather’s donkey to carry the water containers.
Local press reported that the girl had tied the donkey’s rope around her own neck while leading it to the river.
The donkey suddenly bolted, dragging the girl for more than one kilometre over rocky ground and thick brush, killing her.
She was reported to only have been a few metres into the journey when the donkey bolted, tightening the rope round her neck.
Her sister and several passers-by — including an 18-year-old boy walking back from school and a driver who jumped out of his car — tried but failed to stop the runaway animal.
The donkey was finally cornered by two men, who freed the girl but she was already dead with visible injuries and broken bones.
