Elephant kills American tourist in Zambia

 (Livingstone, Zambia. June 2024)

A US tourist from New Mexico was killed by an elephant during a safari drive in Zambia on Wednesday.

She was attacked by one of the elephants after her group stopped near the Maramba Cultural Bridge in Livingstone due to traffic caused by a herd, a police official told national broadcaster ZNBC.

Initially, officials said the animal pulled Juliana Gle Tourneau, 64, out of the vehicle and trampled her.

But this account was later disputed by the Livingstone Tourism Association, which said the group were only attacked after leaving their vehicle - which it described as a breach of national park regulations.

The association said an attack like the one initially described by a police official had never been reported "anywhere in Africa or Asia".

This marks the second fatal elephant attack on a US tourist in the southern African country this year.

Gail Mattson, a 79-year-old woman from Minnesota, was killed during a game drive in Zambia's Kafue National Park.

During the March incident, an elephant charged the truck, flipped it over, killed Ms Mattson and injured five others.

Rona Wells, Ms Mattson's daughter, wrote on Facebook that her mother died in a "tragic accident while on her dream adventure".

Video of the attack later went viral and showed an elephant charging towards the vehicle. None of the vehicle passengers are seen in the video, but someone can be heard saying "oh my goodness," and "it's coming fast".

The vehicle stops to presumably attempt to stave off the elephant, but the animal hooks its tusk onto the vehicle and it rolls several times.

Zambian authorities have called on tourists to exercise extreme caution while observing wildlife around the country.

Zambia's neighbours Zimbabwe and Botswana have also raised concern about increasing elephant populations in their respective countries.

Zimbabwe has recorded deadly elephant attacks in recent years.

Source: Elephant kills American tourist in Zambia (BBC News, 22/06/2024)

Read more: New Mexico woman becomes second American tourist killed by an elephant in Zambia this year (The Independent, 21/06/2024)

Horror as elephant tosses tourist out of car and tramples her to death (Metro, 21/06/2024)

A Tourist From New Mexico Is Killed by an Elephant in Zambia (New York Times, 22/06/2024)

American woman killed by elephant in Zambia, the second such attack this year (CBS News, 21/06/2024)

U.S. tourist killed in Zambia elephant attack, the second this year (NBC News, 21/06/2024)