US tourist killed in elephant attack in Zambia

A US tourist from New Mexico was killed by an elephant on Wednesday during a safari in Zambia after it attacked her parked vehicle.

The animal pulled 64-year-old Juliana Gle Tourneau out of the vehicle and trampled her, officials said.

Ms Tourneau was travelling with a group that had stopped to allow traffic from a herd of elephants near the Maramba Cultural Bridge in Livingstone when one of the animals attacked, a police officer told Zambian national broadcaster ZNBC.

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

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

In the March incident, an elephant attacked the truck, overturning it, killing Ms Mattson and injuring five other people.

Rona Wells, Ms Mattson’s daughter, wrote on Facebook that her mother had died in a “tragic accident during her dream adventure”.

A video of the attack later went viral, showing an elephant charging toward the vehicle. None of the vehicle’s occupants are visible in the video, but someone can be heard saying “Oh my goodness” and “It’s coming fast.”

The vehicle probably stops to fend off the elephant, but the animal gets its tusk caught in the vehicle and rolls over several times.

Zambian authorities have urged tourists to exercise extreme caution when viewing wildlife across the country.

Zambia’s neighbours Zimbabwe and Botswana have also expressed concern about the growing elephant population in their respective countries.

There have been fatal elephant attacks in Zimbabwe in recent years.