Crocodile horror girl, 18, wants to return to Zambia and help to build a school

Amelie Osborn-Smith wants to use her terrifying ordeal on the Zambezi river to build a school for villagers.

The gap year student was dragged underwater by the reptile while white water rafting below Victoria Falls.

But she was dragged to safety after a pal leapt into the river and punched the croc on its snout.

Remembering November’s attack, Amelie said she was swimming back to her raft when she felt something pass over her legs.

She said: “That’s when I looked down and saw the crocodile.”

Before she could react, the predator grabbed her and began pulling her below the surface.

Amelie said she was “so ridiculously grateful” for the friend who helped rescue her.

Once on the shore, she said the pal told her not to look at her injuries, but she told him: “It’s okay. Tell them to amputate both my legs.”

She added: “I knew in my head there was no saving my legs. I nearly lost my life, losing my legs compared to that is nothing.

Amelie told Sky News: “No one could get a signal and when you’re trying not to bleed to death, you just think how will I get through this?”

Eventually she was airlifted to hospital. And seven operations later her limbs have been saved.

Now home in Andover, Hants, and walking on crutches, Amelie hopes to start university in September.

But she is determined to use publicity from her almost fatal ordeal to help build a school for more than 100 children living in Muke and Delevu villages, near Livingstone.

She has already raised more than £8,000 towards her £50,000 target for the Zambezi School Project.

Amelie said: “They were the nicest people in the world.

“They don’t have a school and this story has had so much attention, I just hope that something good can come out of it. It brings positivity to the whole thing, which otherwise would be seen as really negative. It helps me get through every day.”

To donate, visit Amelie’s fundraising page HERE.