Estevao Alberto Gino, a young Mozambican football player has been snatched and killed by a crocodile while training along the banks of a river.

This development was made known by his club on Monday.

According to the Hindustan Times, Estevao Alberto Gino, 19, who played for Mozambique’s second division club Atletico Mineiro de Tete, lived near the Zambezi river in the western province of Tete.

Crocodiles are a common sight at golf courses in the US. In February, a quick-thinking golfer Tony Aarts hit life-saving ‘shots’ with his putter when he used the club to save himself from the clutches of a 10-foot alligator in Florida.

The incident in Maputo happened last Thursday.

“On that night, he was training and after jogging he stretched his hands into the water and that was when the crocodile caught him,” coach Eduardo Carvalho revealed.

Two neighbours who witnessed the attack estimated the crocodile to have been about five-metres (16-feet) long, and “they could not do anything” to save him, said Carvalho.

Crocodile attacks are common along the Zambezi river.

Local police spokesman Leonel Muchina confirmed the incident saying the footballer’s body has not yet been found.