PHANG NGA, THAILAND: A “panic-stricken” elephant killed a Spanish tourist while she was bathing the animal at a sanctuary in southern Thailand, local police said on Monday (Jan 6).
On Friday, Blanca Ojanguren García, 23, was washing the animal at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in the Koh Yao district of Phang Nga province when she was hit by the stressed animal’s trunk, according to police. According to the Bangkok Post, the animal also stuck its tusk into her.
“A female tourist was killed while bathing an elephant,” Jaran Bangprasert, the local police chief told AFP.
Experts said that the elephant had likely become stressed due to the pressure of living and interacting with tourists outside its ecosystem, according to local media.
García, who was from Valladolid in northwest Spain, had been studying law and international relations at the University of Navarra.
She was living in Taiwan on the Erasmus academic exchange programme and was visiting Thailand as a tourist, according to the Bangkok Post.
The student was at the elephant sanctuary with her boyfriend, an infantry cadet from Oviedo, also in northwest Spain, who was present at the time of the attack.
Jose Manuel Albares, the Spanish foreign minister, said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was offering assistance, according to the Bangkok Post.
“We can confirm the tragic death in an accident of a Spanish tourist. The Spanish Consulate in Bangkok is in contact with the victim’s relatives and is offering all the necessary consular assistance, as is normal in these types of circumstances,” said a statement from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as quoted by news platform NDTW World.
Wild elephants have killed 227 people, including tourists, in the past 12 years, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
An elephant killed a 49-year-old woman at a national park in Loei province in northern Thailand last month.
While encounters between villagers and wild elephants are common, attacks at sanctuaries remain rare.
Bathing elephants is a popular activity among visitors in Thailand, where about 2,800 elephants are held for tourism purposes across the country, according to World Animal Protection.
However, animal rights groups argue that bathing elephants can cause them distress and some sanctuaries in the country do not allow it.
