Madrid [Spain], July 11 : After getting out of his car to get a close-up picture of the breeding elephants, a Spanish tourist was crushed to death by a herd of elephants in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, local police said, according to CNN.
According to a provincial police spokesperson, the unidentified tourist, who they described as a 43-year-old guy, visited the game reserve in South Africa's North West Province on Sunday in a private vehicle.
The visitor was identified as Carlos Luna by the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, which reported that he was a native of Zaragoza.
The Pilanesberg Game Reserve is the fourth-largest park in South Africa and a well-liked vacation spot.
The man and the people accompanying him "spotted three elephants with three calves" while visiting the park, according to the police, who also stated that "the man stopped the vehicle, and went closer to take pictures" before he was attacked and killed by the herd, reported CNN.
The Spanish tourist, who met a tragic fate did not pay heed to the warnings, and all to "his fellow passengers, and occupants from two other vehicles that were at the sighting," according to a statement from the province's tourism board.
"An adult elephant cow charged at the man, who then ran ... (but) was unfortunately not able to escape or evade the elephant, which was now joined by the whole herd, and was caught and trampled to death," the board said, as per CNN.
Plans are chalked out to repatriate the tourist's remains, according to the Spanish publication, which quoted officials.
In South Africa, attacks by elephants are not uncommon.
Earlier in 2019, the authorities had reported that an elephant had attacked and killed a suspected poacher in the southeastern Kruger National Park, and lions had devoured his carcass.
At a mine in the province of Limpopo in the same year, a security man was likewise crushed to death by an elephant.
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