One tourist is dead after an elephant attacked a tour bus on safari this week in Zambia’s Kafue National Park.
Keith Vincent, the chief executive of Wilderness Zambia, the company that managed the tour group, told local media that the incident occurred during a photography tour around 9:30 am on Saturday.
Vincent explained that six people were in the vehicle at the time. The person who died was only identified as an 80-year-old woman, another woman was hospitalized, and the four other guests were treated for minor injuries.
News of the incident first broke in the U.S. on Twitter as a video emerged showing the bull elephant charging the vehicle.
The 46-second clip was filmed by one of the tourists inside the vehicle. It shows the bull a little ways away from the road, walking through the tall grass and trees.
Then, the vehicle seems to pick up speed as the does the bull. Someone inside the vehicle says, “It’s coming fast,” and then the vehicle comes to a complete stop.
At that point, the elephant goes around a tree and charges the vehicle. Someone yells, “Hey, hey, hey!” at the charging bull. The cameraman appears to try to exit the vehicle but others seem to stay put.
The elephant slowly approaches the vehicle, lifts it from the bottom, and flips it. With the vehicle on its side, you can hear people groaning and yelling, and the beep of a walkie-talkie. Then, it appears as if the cameraman dropped his phone.
Why the vehicle was stopped, Vincent explained that “sadly in this instance the terrain and vegetation was such that the guide’s route became blocked and he could not move the vehicle out of harm’s way quickly enough.”
Vincent added that park managers dispatched a helicopter to the scene to aid the injured. He said his company extends “deepest condolences to the family of the guest who died” and support for the guests and guide involved.
According to African Parks, a conservation group that manages 22 African national parks, Kafue is the largest game reserve in Africa.
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