A 23-year-old Spanish tourist has been killed by a panic-stricken elephant at a sanctuary in Thailand.
The tourist was killed by an elephant’s trunk while bathing the animal at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in Phang Nga province.
The Thai police disclosed this incident on Monday adding that the Spanish embassy has been informed to confirm the victim’s identity.
” A female tourist was killed while bathing an elephant,” the local police chief Jaran Bangprasert, told newsmen during an interview.
Meanwhile, the sanctuary where the incident occurred has refused to provide details surrounding the tragedy.
According to World Animal Protection, wild elephants have killed 227 people, including tourists, in the past 12 years.
A similar incident occurred at a national park in Loei province in northern Thailand last month after an elephant killed a 49-year-old woman. 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.
