Family survives after bull elephant batters and flips car at Lake St Lucia

A family’s outing to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal turned into a nightmare when a bull elephant charged, battered and then overturned their vehicle at the weekend.

 The occupants – believed to be a husband, wife and their two children, aged eight and 10, from the coastal town of Mtunzini – were reported to be severely traumatised, but not seriously hurt. It is unclear why the elephant attacked the car, but it is understood that an investigation will be launched by park officials. Dramatic video footage taken by the occupants of another vehicle show the elephant shoving a white Ford 4×4 bakkie after it had flipped the vehicle over onto its roof. Images circulated on social media show that the windscreen was cracked, with dents to both sides of the vehicle.

 

Ntuli and fellow staff were returning to a field camp in a three-ton truck from Hell’s Gate when they came across a breeding herd of 26 elephants drinking at a reservoir at about 7pm. 

They stopped their vehicle and switched off the lights. After waiting for a while, the team tried to drive forward, but were stopped by the herd. It is believed the elephants may have become disorientated by the switching on and off of the lights. 

One elephant then rammed the truck, pushing it backwards off the road against a tree. The windscreen was shattered and the cab roof lifted off its mounting and Ntuli, a mother of two, was fatally gored.