Newlywed's honeymoon horror as hippo 'bites through her heart' in front of husband

A newly married couple experienced an unimaginable tragedy when a hippopotamus attack claimed the bride's life before her husband's eyes in the Botswana Delta. Janice and Bruce Simpson had been married for just two weeks when they went on a guided canoe excursion at Eagle Island in the Okavango Delta in 2003. During the trip, it's understood the group was forced to take a detour as a herd of elephants blocked their path, navigating instead through the surrounding reeds. The couple's family said how, about 200 metres from their camp, a hippo charged into the middle of their boat, throwing all three into the water. Bruce suffered a dislocated shoulder from the impact and got back up just in time to witness the creature clamping its jaws around the 32-year-old's chest, fatally injuring her heart and lung, reports the Daily Star . The distraught husband then remained with his wife while the guide went to get help, though Janice had already passed away. Bruce escorted his wife's remains from Botswana to South Africa, where they lived. Janice's sister, Lauren Salters, recalled her final days, telling IOL: "They got married at Zevenwacht wine estate on November 29. The next Thursday, they left for Maun, Botswana, for their honeymoon." She revealed the pair had met through work and "were absolutely besotted with each other." She described her sister as a "vibrant, bubbly person - so full of fun." Just weeks later, another woman suffered an attack from the same type of animal, again in the Botswana Delta. Diana Tilden-Davis, a former Miss South Africa pageant winner, operated a safari business in the region alongside her husband, Chris Kruger. While navigating a mekorro (dugout canoe) through the isolated northern stretches of the same Delta where the Simpson couple had been, Diana inadvertently startled a hippo lurking in the waterway. Her husband detailed in a statement that the hippo bit Diana in the lower leg, just above the ankle, though she was rescued and airlifted to Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg for medical care. He additionally offered insight into why the local wildlife might have been displaying aggression during this period: "There is a severe drought in Botswana at the moment, and all the grazing animals, including hippo, are quite stressed because of the lack of grazing grass. "This factor, together with the fact that the waters are normally low this time of the year, giving the hippo less chance to move away from human activity into deeper waters, could be one of the reasons why this hippo was so aggressive."