Student, 22, fatally gored by elephant while bathing animal at popular sanctuary
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A student has died after being knocked to the ground by an elephant at an animal sanctuary. Blanca Ojanguren García, 22, was bathing Clarín the elephant when it gruesomely drove its tusk into her at the Koh Yao Elephant Care centre on the island of Yao Yai, Thailand.
The student, from Valladolid, Spain, passed in front of the animal when it attacked, local media reports. It is understood she was travelling in Thailand and decided to visit the centre, popular with tourists who often washing elephants and bathing with them in the nation.
It is believed Blanca was with her boyfriend at the time of the horror, which happened on Friday. No further details about the exact nature of the woman's injuries - or if her boyfriend suffered any - have been disclosed by authorities at this stage. Blanca was studying Law and International Relations at the University of Navarra, in Pamplona in northeast Spain. The university said it "expresses its sorrow" for García’s death and "shares the grief of her family and asks for prayers for her soul." Koh Yao Elephant Care centre has not addressed the tragedy on its social media.
But Clarín had likely become stressed due to interacting with tourists, experts have said. In the last 12 years, there have been 240 deaths due to attacks by wild elephants, including 39 fatalities in 2024, according to data from the Department of National Parks cited by The Nation newspaper. Some 4,000 elephants live in sanctuaries, national parks, and nature reserves in Thailand.
