Skip to main content

Elephant impact

British holidaymarkers were lucky to avoid being killed when an elephant unexpectedly attacked their car. The pair were visiting the Kruger National Park in South Africa when their VW Polo car was first rammed and then flipped onto its roof by the enraged male elephant. One of the elephant’s tusks pierced the door of the car, seriously injuring the woman passenger and she was taken to hospital after the attack. She recovered from the injury however and was later able to leave after treatment.
March 27, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
British holidaymarkers were lucky to avoid being killed when an elephant unexpectedly attacked their car. The pair were visiting the Kruger National Park in South Africa when their VW Polo car was first rammed and then flipped onto its roof by the enraged male elephant. One of the elephant’s tusks pierced the door of the car, seriously injuring the woman passenger and she was taken to hospital after the attack. She recovered from the injury however and was later able to leave after treatment. The elephant was later shot and killed by rangers as it was thought to present a possible danger to other park visitors. Elephant attacks on cars are comparatively rare in South Africa’s game parks but although vehicles are designed to protect occupants in the event of a crash, they are not designed to deflect elephant tusks.

Related Content

  • UK Government must show “much greater leadership” on road safety
    August 20, 2012
    A leading road safety campaigner has urged the UK government to show “much greater leadership” on the issue after new Department for Transport (DfT) figures revealed a rise in pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists killed or seriously injured on Britain’s roads. The number of cyclists killed or seriously injured (KSI) on UK roads between April 1 and June 30, 2012 rose 13% to 700, compared to 621 over the same three months of 2011.
  • Concerns for young drivers causing crashes
    May 24, 2016
    Concern is being expressed for the safety of young drivers. Statistics both from the US and the UK reveal the shockingly high risk of young drivers being involved in crashes. They also reveal that young drivers are a danger not only to themselves, but to other road users as well as the occupants of their own vehicles. The latest figures from the UK show that 2,088 young drivers and passengers aged from 17-24 were killed and seriously injured in just one year. Although the data shows that drivers aged fro
  • Car safety concern for Latin America
    April 19, 2016
    Vehicle safety in Latin America and the Caribbean nations has come into the spotlight. Research shows a high level of deaths and injuries from car crashes in these regions. Worryingly, there is concern that the types of vehicles sold in Latin America and the Caribbean do not benefit from the latest safety features. As a result, high levels of occupant injuries and deaths are being recorded. The New Car Assessment Program for Latin America and the Caribbean (Latin NCAP), Global New Car Assessment Program (Gl
  • Fish paste
    August 14, 2014
    A Chinese truck driver had a lucky escape when his vehicle collided with two cars that had crashed right in front of him. The truck then rolled onto one of the cars, spilling its 5.5tonne cargo of frozen fish in the process. Those involved in the crash may have smelt afterwards, but escaped without serious injuries. The truck driver’s wallet was hit hard however, as the costly cargo defrosted and had to be thrown away.