Elephant kills girl by hurling rock at head

A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD girl has died at a Moroccan zoo after an elephant hurled a large stone at her head.

The unnamed girl was posing for a picture next to the elephant enclosure at the Jardin Zoologique in Rabat when a female used its trunk to pick up a stone.

The stone was tossed high into the air, passing over the enclosure fence and a ditch separating the animals from visitors, before hitting the girl on the back of the head.

She was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital with severe head injuries, but died several hours later.

Initial reports said the girl’s father had lifted her onto his shoulders so her mother could take a photograph of the pair with the elephants in the background. Video footage taken by a bystander shows a group of people gathered around the girl as she lay on the ground.

A zoo spokesman offered its condolences to the family but said the enclosure met international standards and that the accident was “rare, unforeseeable and unusual”.

He added: “We are deeply saddened by this event and we will offer as much support as we can to the family to get through this.”

In June, a two-year-old boy died at Disneyland Florida after being dragged off by an alligator and in May, zookeepers shot dead a gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo after a boy, three, fell into its enclosure.

Rabat city prosecutors said they were investigating the girl’s death. The zoo did not announce any plans to put down the elephant, a female named Assia.