A 30-year-old Colombian student was allegedly killed by an elephant in Kibale National Park, and police in Kamwenge District are investigating.
Mr Vincent Twesige, a spokesman for the Rwenzori West Regional Police, said the dead was a student at the Ngogo Chimpanzee Research Centre in Kibale National Park in Kamwenge District. Sabastian Amaya, he said, was the deceased.
According to Mr Twesige, the event occurred on Sunday about 9 a.m., when the deceased and his colleagues traveled deep into the National Park for study under the supervision of one Ngene, a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) warden.
“The students went in different directions in the jungle, and when they came out, everyone save Amaya went back to the camp. The team decided to return to the forest in search of him, but they discovered him after an elephant had already killed him “he stated
The UWA warden (Ngene), according to Mr Twesige, reported the incident to Bigodi Police Station that evening.
As inquiries into the incident continue, police led by Kamwenge District CID Officer Mr Paddy Tumwebaze went to the scene and removed the body, which they transferred to Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital for a postmortem.
Mr Bashir Hanji, a UWA spokeswoman, described the occurrence as “a regretful and unfortunate situation that the Authority had not witnessed in Kibale National Park in the last 50 years.”
