A Thai man has been charged with “negligence causing death” after an elephant gored a Spanish tourist at a sanctuary in southern Thailand last week.
Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 baht (£4,600) if convicted, after a “panic-stricken” elephant attacked and killed Blanca Ojanguren García, 22, at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in Phang Nga province.
A staff member told the media that García was bathing the elephant when she passed in front of the animal and it “stuck a tusk in her”, causing injuries from which she later died.
Koh Yao sanctuary allows tourists to walk, feed and bathe the elephants which is a popular activity in Thailand
Police charged the mahout, an employee of the sanctuary, with negligence and failing to prevent the fatal incident.
“We charged him with negligence causing death and he will be taken to court today,” local police chief Jaran Bangprasert told Agence France-Presse.
Wild elephants have killed 227 people, including tourists, in the past 12 years, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
An elephant killed a 49-year-old woman at a national park in Loei province in northern Thailand last month.
While encounters between villagers and wild elephants are common, attacks at sanctuaries remain rare.
García was from Valladolid in north-west Spain and had been studying law and international relations at the University of Navarra, where she was a member of the security and defence club.
García was living in Taiwan as part of an academic exchange programme and visited Thailand with her boyfriend – LinkedIn
She was living in Taiwan on the Erasmus academic exchange programme and had visited Thailand as a tourist. She was at the elephant sanctuary with her boyfriend, an infantry cadet from Oviedo, who was present at the time of the attack.
Bathing elephants is a popular activity amongst visitors in Thailand, where about 2,800 elephants are held for tourism purposes across the country, according to World Animal Protection.
However, animal rights groups argue that bathing elephants can cause them distress and some sanctuaries in the country do not allow it.