Lion Drags Female Tourist From Car & Kills Her At South Africa Park [VIDEOS]

Failure to follow rules to Keep Windows Closed at All Times cost a 22-year-old American female tourist her life while visiting the Lion Park in South Africa on Monday. A lioness attacked the vehicle of the woman and her male companion and then dragged and bit her from the passenger window.

According to Scott Simpson, spokesman of the Lion Park, the lion approached from the car’s left side, the passenger side, and walked quite close. He added that witnesses saw visitors photographing the lion from a metre away when suddenly the animal lunged and bit the female tourist, reports The Telegraph.

After the lioness was taken away, medics rushed to help the victim. However, while she was being treated by the paramedics, she passed away, Simpson said. The South African driver of the vehicle was also hurt when he attempted to save his passenger. He was brought to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening in injuries.

He said the attack was a rare incident in the eight-hectare park that has 12 lions. The park attracts 200,000 visitors yearly and the incident like what happened to the female visitor rarely happened, Simpson said. However, The Telegraph reports that a similar incident happened in March when a lion bit an Australian man on the leg, while in April, a cheetah attacked a 13-year-old boy on a bike after he cut the fence and took a short cut home through the park.

But even tourists who follow the rolled up car windows rule are not safe. In 2014, a family on a safari trip in South Africa were terrorised when a lion opened their car's door with its teeth. Fortunately, an alert family member immediately grabbed the door and locked it from the inside.

Following the incident, the South African police have initiated an investigation because of the death due to unnatural cause of the victim, said Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini, spokesman of the Gauteng Province police. The park has ruled out euthanising the lioness that but the American tourist.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com