Lion kills farm worker

A lion has killed a contract worker on a Free State farm, police said on Tuesday.

Sergeant Mmako Mophiring said the attack happened on the farm Leeubank near Villiers around 9pm on Monday.

Police said the man from KwaZulu-Natal had left a house on the farm to fetch water from an outside tap when the lion pounced.

The worker appeared to have been killed when the animal struck.

Mophiring said the farm owner shot and killed the lion, which had apparently slipped out of its enclosure on the farm.

How the lion managed to escape would form part of the investigation into the matter, Mophiring said.