Morocco: Girl dies after rock lobbed by zoo elephant hits her head
Rabat, Aug 1: A seven-year-old girl who was killed in the zoo here after she was struck in the head by a rock which was thrown at her by an elephant, a Daily Mirror report said.
The tragedy occurred last week when the girl, who had visited the zoo with her family, was busy posing for photographs besides the elephant's open enclosure.
Eyewitnesses said the animal then picked up a big stone with its trunk and lobbed it in the air, hitting the girl on the back of her head. She lost her consciousness and was badly injured. A video showed people coming to her aid and trying to stop the profuse bleeding from her head. It also showed the animal in the background and the killer stone.
The girl later succumbed to her injuries at a hospital.
The zoo officials later described the girl's death as "accidental" while condoling it. They said there were no security breaches in the incident.
"Accidents of this type are rare, unforeseeable, and unusual. Accidents of this nature happened in international zoos, most recently in Disney World Orlando and the Cincinnati Zoo in the United States," the spokesman said in a statement, according to Morocco World News.
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