51�Թ�

So desperate are they to find safety that some have even crossed the Rusizi river in makeshift vessels or swum to reach Burundi, despite the dangerous journey killing many people including a three-year-old child.

Speaking to BBC News NI, they said he had previously swum competitively, including representing his university in varsity competitions.

One has swum the English Channel seven times.

Britain's Adam Peaty is the greatest sprint breaststroker in history, having swum the 14 fastest times of all time and taken gold at the past two Olympics.

Dr. Braczkowski and his team had seen Jacob and his brother on the other side of the channel three times, and had assumed that the lions had swum between the two shores.