4000-kilo female elephant's one hit from trunk kills zookeeper
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An investigation has been launched over the incident as it is the first in the 31-year-old zoo
One strike from a female elephant turned out to be deadlier after a zoo worker in Spain lost his life after getting hit.
The female elephant struck the 44-year-old with her trunk on Wednesday at the Cabarceno Natural Park near the northern city of Santander, the zoo in a statement said, reports news agency AFP.
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He was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries hours later, it added.
When the incident happened, the zoo workers were cleaning the elephant stables and the 4,000-kg female elephant was with her calf.
"We're talking about unpredictable animals," Javier Lopez Marcano, the tourism minister in the regional government of Cantabria which runs the zoo, told reporters.
"The force of the strike was tremendous, of a magnitude that one could not survive."
An investigation has been launched over the incident as it is the first in the 31-year-old zoo.
About 120 animal species that include tigers, lions, jaguars and lions live in large enclosures in Cabarceno Natural Park.
Last year, a zookeeper received head and chest injuries with her arms broken after she was mauled by a 200-kilo gorilla at Madrid Zoo Aquarium.