A US tourist from New Mexico, Juliana Gle Tourneau, 64, was killed by an elephant in Zambia on Wednesday. The incident occurred when the elephant attacked her vehicle during a safari drive.
Tourneau was with a group that had stopped near the Maramba Cultural Bridge in Livingstone due to traffic from an elephant herd. An elephant pulled her from the vehicle and trampled her, according to officials.
This marks the second fatal elephant attack on a US tourist in Zambia this year. In March, Gail Mattson, 79, from Minnesota, was killed in Kafue National Park when an elephant charged and flipped over the truck she was in, also injuring five others.
Mattson’s daughter, Rona Wells, described her mother’s death as a “tragic accident while on her dream adventure” in a Facebook post. A video of the attack went viral, showing the charging elephant and the subsequent vehicle rollover.
Zambian authorities have urged tourists to exercise extreme caution when observing wildlife. Neighboring countries Zimbabwe and Botswana have also raised concerns about increasing elephant populations and related deadly attacks.
