A 22-year-old tourist has died after an elephant killed her while she was bathing it at a Thailand sanctuary. On Friday, Blanca Ojanguren García and her boyfriend visited Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre on Yao Yai island. While bathing elephants is a popular tourist activity in Thailand, it resulted in the student's death.
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Elephant Kills Tourist At Thai Sanctuary
While washing the 50-year-old elephant, the animal slammed her with its trunk, according to El Mundo. Although initial reports claimed the female elephant gored García with its tusk, Spanish outlet EFE said this was false.
García was a law and international relations student from the University of Navarra in Spain. She was living in Taiwan for an academic exchange program. Meanwhile, her boyfriend is an infantry cadet from Oviedo, Spain.
After the elephant attacked García, she was rushed to the hospital. According to local police, this is where she passed away from her injuries. This young woman was the only tourist harmed, but elephants killing people isn't terribly rare.
According to the Independent, 227 people have died from elephant attacks in Thailand within the past 12 years. 39 of those deaths happened in 2024, and García's death marks the first of 2025.
So why would such gentle-looking creatures do something so violent? Animal experts told local reporters that the elephant was likely stressed out from interacting with outsiders—especially those outside of its ecosystem.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation estimates there are over 4,000 wild elephants in Thailand. Meanwhile, World Animal Protection believes around 2,800 of them are used for tourism.
García and her boyfriend were present with eight other tourists who unfortunately had to witness the tragedy. The young student recently finished her professional internships at the Navy headquarters in Madrid, according to El Pais. This was due in part to her being from a military family.
Tourists should know the dangers of beasts like elephants when partaking in such excursions. Koh Yao Elephant Care's website highlights that they "present true nature of Elephant." It also describes how they don't control or use hooks on the creatures.
