Elephant In Zambia Pulls US Tourist Out Of Safari Vehicle, Tramples Her To Death

Officials did not say whether anyone else was injured or what led to the elephants aggression.

In a terrifying incident, a US tourist from New Mexico was killed by an elephant in Zambia after it attacked her vehicle during a safari drive on Wednesday. Officials reported that the elephant pulled Juliana Gle Tourneau, 64, out of the vehicle and trampled her, Metro reported. The incident occurred near the Maramba Cultural Bridge in Livingstone when the group had stopped due to traffic caused by an elephant herd.

She was taken to a clinic in Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, where she was declared dead on arrival. According to a police statement, her injuries included deep wounds on the right shoulder blade and forehead, a fractured left ankle, and a slightly depressed chest.

Ms Tourneau died around 5.50 pm ”after being knocked from a parked vehicle which had stopped due to traffic caused by elephants around the Maramba Cultural Bridge”, Southern Province Police Commissioner Auxensio Daka told Zambian station ZNBC on Friday.

Officials did not say whether anyone else was injured or what led to the elephant’s aggression.

This tragic event marks the second fatal elephant attack on a US tourist in Zambia this year. In March, Gail Mattson, a 79-year-old woman from Minnesota, was killed in a similar incident during a game drive in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. An elephant charged and overturned the truck, resulting in her death and injuries to five others. 

In response to these incidents, Zambian authorities have urged tourists to exercise extreme caution while observing wildlife. Similar concerns have been raised in neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe and Botswana, which have also reported increasing elephant populations and deadly attacks in recent years.

According to experts, human deaths are rare in encounters with elephants. ”This is a freak accident. It’s probably just some sort of coming together of unfortunate circumstances that led to this,” Nikhil Advani, a senior director at the World Wildlife Fund, a nonprofit that works on environmental protection and conservation efforts told the New York Times.