A “panic-stricken” elephant killed a Spanish vacationer whereas she was bathing the animal at a sanctuary in southern Thailand, police stated on Monday.
The 23-year-old girl was hit by the pressured animal’s trunk on the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in Phang Nga province, in response to police.
“A feminine vacationer was killed whereas bathing an elephant,” Jaran Bangprasert, the native police chief instructed AFP.
The sanctuary declined to supply particulars of the incident when contacted by AFP.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo recognized the sufferer as Blanca Ojanguren García. The outlet reported that she and her boyfriend had been amongst eight vacationers on the sanctuary when the incident occurred. El Pais reported that she was a fifth-year legislation and worldwide relations scholar on the College of Navarra and had lately accomplished her skilled internships at Spain’s navy headquarters in Madrid.
In a social media post, the mayor of Valladolid, Spain expressed his condolences.
“My deepest condolences to Blanca Ojanguren’s household,” Jesus Julio Carnero wrote.
Spain’s international minister, Jose Manuel Albares, stated the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was aiding Ojanguren García’s household, the BBC reported.
The Koh Yao Centre gives “elephant care” packages that permit vacationers make meals for and feed the animals, in addition to bathe and stroll with them, in response to the BBC. These packages value between 1,900 baht ($55; £44) and a couple of,900 baht.
Wild elephants have killed 227 folks, together with vacationers, previously 12 years, in response to the Division of Nationwide Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
An elephant killed a 49-year-old girl at a nationwide park in Loei province in northern Thailand final month.
Final 12 months, two American women were killed in separate elephant assaults in Zambia.
Whereas encounters between villagers and wild elephants are widespread, assaults at sanctuaries stay uncommon.
Bathing elephants is a well-liked exercise amongst guests in Thailand, the place about 2,800 elephants are held for tourism functions throughout the nation, in response to World Animal Protection.
Nonetheless, animal rights teams argue that bathing elephants could cause them misery and a few sanctuaries within the nation don’t enable it.
In 2014, park rangers in Thailand discovered the body of an American woman who was apparently trampled to loss of life by elephants in a reserve outdoors Bangkok.