Tanzania monkey attack: Baby dies after being snatched

A one-month-old baby boy has died in Tanzania after being snatched from his mother by a monkey which had gone into their house, authorities say.

The child was being breastfed when a troop of monkeys invaded their home in Mwamgongo village in Kigoma, near the Gombe Nation Park in western Tanzania.

It is not clear what species of monkey attacked the mother.

Kigoma Regional Commander James Manyama said the child died after villagers tried to use force to rescue the him.

“[The mother] screamed for help and villagers rushed to her house to assist her in getting her child… back from the troop of monkeys,” he told Tanzania’s Citizen newspaper.

The monkey then responded aggressively.

Mr Manyama said the baby was injured on the head and neck, and later passed away as he was receiving treatment.

The police have urged citizens to continue to be vigilant against monkeys crossing from the national park.

But Mr Manyama told the BBC that in his three years of working in the area he had never heard of a similar incident.

Incidents of larger wild animals, such as elephants, encroaching on the land of villages near national parks and resulting in some deaths have been known.