A Spanish tourist in South Africa was killed on Sunday when he allegedly exited a vehicle to take photos of wild elephants at a national park and was trampled by the herd, local authorities said Tuesday.
The 43-year-old tourist, who was not named, was visiting Pilanesberg National Park in North West province with his fiancée and two other people.
The man’s death is at least the third elephant-related fatality involving tourists in Africa in the last four months.
Park officials told police the man left his vehicle, which is not allowed, and approached the elephants to take photos.
The herd included three calves.
North West province’s Parks and Tourism Board confirmed the incident and said an adult female elephant was first to charge at the man.
In a statement obtained by the Associated Press, the board said the man “was unfortunately not able to escape or evade the elephant,” which was joined by the whole herd in trampling him.
“The elephants moved away immediately from the scene without any aggression towards the nearby vehicles and eventually disappeared into the bushes,” the statement reads.
Though elephants are typically not hostile, female elephants can become aggressive when they perceive a threat to their young calves. Male elephants may become aggressive during musth, a natural phenomenon which involves an increase in a male elephant’s reproductive hormones.
The three other people accompanying the Spanish tourist in his vehicle, all from Johannesburg, were uninjured.
Prior to the Spanish tourist’s death, two other American travellers were separately killed in elephant charging incidents in Africa this year.
Both of the other tourist deaths occurred in Zambia.
In June, 64-year-old tourist Juliana Gle Tourneau died when she was trampled by elephants after she was knocked from a vehicle in the city of Livingstone.
Before that, 79-year-old American Gail Mattson was killed after a bull elephant charged a safari vehicle in Kafue National Park in western Zambia. The incident was caught on video. The elephant was seen making a charge toward the vehicle before using its tusks to flip the safari car.