Tragedy as Elephant kills an old woman in Zimbabwe

A 70-year-old woman was allegedly slain by an elephant, who subsequently returned to stampede on her body during her funeral.

Maya Murmu was crushed by an escaped animal while fetching water in Raipal village, Eastern India, on Thursday, according to authorities.

She died in hospital from her injuries, and her body was burned on a funeral pyre later that evening.

However, the elephant returned and trampled her body while her family performed death rites, according to the Press Trust of India.

The family is believed to have carried on with the funeral after the animal had left.

According to accounts, the elephant escaped from Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary in Mayurbhanj, 200 kilometers away.

An elderly visitor in Zimbabwe was trampled to death by an elephant in front of his son in October.

As Michael Walsh, 71, and his 41-year-old son were taking a morning walk in Mana Pools National Park, the ‘tuskless’ female elephant lunged at them.

They were only 40 meters from their car, but Mr Walsh was unable to outrun the enormous beast.

‘His son watched as the elephant killed his father,’ said park spokesperson Tinashe Farawo.

Mr Walsh, a veterinarian from Cape Town, was a ‘loyal tourist’ who had visited Mana Pools ‘nearly every year’ for the previous 35 years.

He died just days after an anti-poaching coordinator in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, was crushed to death by an elephant.

In recent years, Zimbabwe’s national parks and environmental groups have reported an upsurge in human-wildlife conflict.

So far this year, more than 40 people have died in Zimbabwe’s parks and other rural areas as a result of similar clashes, according to Mr Farawo.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, elephants kill between 100 and 300 people in India each year.