Elephant Kills 80-Year-Old US Tourist on Zambia Safari

A bull elephant in Zambia tragically took the life of an 80-year-old American woman tourist during a safari trip.

The incident occurred in Kafue National Park while six guests and a guide were on a safari drive.

According to the news reports, the victim was identified by her family as Gail Mattson of Minnesota, US.

A video capturing the elephant’s attack, believed to be filmed by another tourist, has been circulating online. It shows the wild animal charging the safari vehicle on a “game drive” through Kafue National Park, and ultimately flipping it over when it came to a stop.

The woman sustained life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to a hospital in South Africa, where she was pronounced dead. Fortunately, four members of her party only suffered minor injuries.

Keith Vincent, the CEO of Wilderness – the company running the safari, said that the company’s guides are highly skilled and experienced. However, due to challenging terrain and vegetation, the guide’s route was obstructed, preventing a quick evacuation of the vehicle from danger.

Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife and local police are currently investigating the incident. The local authorities, along with the US Embassy, are collaborating to repatriate the woman’s remains, as stated by Wilderness officials.

Last month, a different safari truck had a close encounter with an elephant at South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park. Luckily, but no one got hurt in that incident. A video of the encounter captured the elephant lifting the 22-seat safari vehicle several times, while the driver tried to scare it off by banging the doors and shouting.