Crocky horror! 15,000 crocodiles escape from South African reptile farm

A dangerous operation is underway in South Africa after 15,000 crocodiles escaped from a reptile farm.

The deadly creatures, which measure up to 16ft in length, broke free from the Rakwena Crocodile Farm following recent heavy flooding.

Staff at the centre, near the Botswana border in the north of the country, were forced to open gates to prevent a storm surge crushing the farm property.

This allowed the aggressive Nile crocodiles to enter the Limpopo River and scatter far and wide – with one reptile showing up 70 miles away on a school playing field.

A few thousand of the crocodiles have been recaptured – but more than half of the predators remain at large.

Zane Langman, whose son-in-law Johan Boshoff owns the farm, told local media they had been capturing the carnivores at night when their eyes shine in the dark.

He said: “There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River. Now there are a lot.

“We’ve been recapturing them as and when the local farmers phone us to tell us that there are crocodiles on their property.

“In Weipe there were a lot, and I also heard there was a crocodile on school’s rugby field in Musina.”

Mr Langman also revealed how how he went to rescue friends in a flooded house in the area by boat on Sunday.

He added: “You want to get them but you wonder the whole time if you’ll make it there. When we reached them, the crocodiles were swimming around them. Praise the Lord, they were all alive.”