Horror as girl, 8, tragically trampled to death by herd of elephants

The tragic incident has sparked fresh calls for safety around human and elephant interactions (Image: Getty)

An eight-year-old girl was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants while trying to escape the stampede on foot with her family. The girl, who has been named as Citra, fled her wooden home in a cornfield in Riau province, Indonesia, after being targeted by a herd of wild elephants on October 30. She died on November 3 after spending three days in a coma with severe head injuries. 

Citra's father urged his wife and four children to gather their things and run after hearing loud noises outside their home, according to West Rumbai police chief Said Khairul. The eight-year-old tripped and fell in the path of the elephant herd during the resulting chaos, according to reports. Her skull was tragically fractured after it was trampled on by one of the wild mammals.

The horror stampede happened in Indonesia's Riau province (Image: Getty)

The police chief said authorities were working to "guide the elephants back to their national habitat so that they no longer endanger local residents", the Daily Mail reports.

The Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) also confirmed that it had "coordinated with the police and local authorities to ensure that the situation remains under control".

"We urge residents not to act aggresively or provocatively towards the wild elephants," a spokesperson said. "While we understand the fear and shock among the community, aggressive actions could worsen the situation."

Zulhusni Syukri, director of the Rimba Satwa Foundation, an organisation dedicated to advocating for wildlife, linked the tragedy to the ongoing suffering elephants in Indonesia are facing from habitat destruction and high levels of hunting.

"These kinds of incidents stem from the trauma that elephants have faced in Riau for decades as a result of human intervention, including being driven away from villages, caught in traps and scared away by fireworks," he told the South China Morning Post.

"This trauma has caused a change in elephant behaviour and made them more aggressive."

Eko Yunanda, director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment in Riau, also suggested action to "prevent human-elephant conflict" was happening on a "reactive" basis, "only after a fatality has occurred".

"To prevent similar incidents, saving and protecting elephant habitats must be a top priority," he told This Week in Asia. "Without safe habitats, elephants will continue to enter residential areas and plantations."