Spanish tourist dies in South Africa after being charged by elephant at national park

A 43-year-old Spanish tourist died last weekend in a national park in South Africa after being attacked by an elephant, according to a Tuesday report published by the EFE Spanish language news agency.

The man, who was traveling with his fiancée and two other women of South African nationality in his private vehicle, stopped the car, got out and approached to take photographs of a herd of three elephants with three calves in the Pilanesberg National Park, he explained to the police spokesperson was quoted as saying.

At that time “the elephants allegedly attacked him and killed him. The victim's companions, who all came from Boksburg and Johannesburg, were not harmed. According to reports, the victim is from Spain,” the source said.

Although the police spokesperson did not provide information about the identity of the victim, the newspaper El Heraldo de Aragón, which cited official Spanish sources, confirmed that one of its citizens, Carlos Luna, also a resident of the town of Ejea de los Caballeros, was visiting participating in a photographic safari in South Africa at the time the event occurred.

Sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed to EFE from Madrid the death and assistance to the family from the Spanish Embassy in Pretoria.

The man was visiting Pilanesberg Park, an animal reserve that occupies an area of ​​about 55,000 hectares about 200 kilometers from Johannesburg, when he came across the herd, the acting director of conservation of the Parks and Forests Board said in a statement. Tourism of the North West province (where the reserve is), Pieter Nel.

According to eyewitnesses, the elephants were some distance from the road they were traveling on, so the man got out of the vehicle and approached on foot to take photographs.

“Despite warnings from his traveling companions and the occupants of two other vehicles that were at the scene of the sighting, unfortunately he did not pay attention,” Nel said in a statement published this Tuesday by local media.

The manager added: “An adult elephant charged at the man.”

“Unfortunately, he was unable to escape or elude the elephant, which the entire herd had joined, and was overtaken and trampled to death. The elephants immediately left the scene without attacking nearby vehicles and finally disappeared into the bushes,” he explained.

The authorities of the country, and mainly of the region, confirmed to the media that all responsibility falls on the Spaniard, who, in addition, signed a consent document for cases of this nature.

The park, the fourth largest in South Africa and located in the crater of an ancient extinct volcano, was established in 1979 and is widely visited by tourists.