A 50-year-old woman is reportedly in a critical condition after she was trampled by a mother hippo during load-shedding in St Lucia on Wednesday evening.

According to Netcare 911’s Shawn Herbst, the incident occurred at a resort pool around 18:30.

“Reports indicate that a mother, her daughter, and the daughter’s boyfriend were swimming in the resort pool when they were hit with load-shedding.”

The three exited the pool in complete darkness, walking back to their accommodation when they were confronted by an adult hippo and its baby.

“Upon noticing the hippo, the trio ran to escape the charging animal, unfortunately, the 50-year-old female was caught, bitten, and trampled.

“The daughter and her boyfriend managed to escape,” Herbst said.

He said the St Lucia NSRI station rescue team was called to assist the wounded woman and that authorities were also notified.

“When a Netcare 911 operations team arrived on the scene they found the woman in a critical condition.

The woman, whose condition was rapidly deteriorating was treated on scene by an emergency care practitioner.

“Due to the nature of the patient’s injuries and distance to an appropriate medical facility, the Netcare 911 Helicopter Air Ambulance was activated to fly the patient to the hospital.

“Circumstances leading up to the incident will be investigated by the St Lucia SAPS,” said Herbst.