Girl dies after she was hit by a rock hurled into the air by a zoo elephant

Morocco: A 7-year-old school girl has died in a tragic accident after she was hit on the head by a rock thrown into the air by an elephant in Rabat Zoo Morocco. The girl was said to be posing for a photo with her family outside the enclosure when the elephant picked up a large stone in its trunk and threw it into the air, hitting the girl on the back of her head.

The girl who was knocked unconscious by the stone was rushed to a nearby hospital but later died of her injuries.

According to local reports, the father of the girl had carried her on his shoulders outside the elephant enclosure so her mother could take a picture of the two of them with their back to the animals when she was struck by the stone.

A zoo spokesman offered his condolences to the girl’s family, but denied that her death was the zoo’s responsibility adding that there had not been any security breaches, and that she had not trespassed into a protective area outside the enclosure.

“Accidents of this type are rare, unforeseeable and unusual,” he said in a statement

“Accidents of this nature have happened in international zoos, most recently in Disney World Orlando and the Cincinnati Zoo in the United States.”