An American woman and her one-year-old daughter were trampled to death by an elephant while walking in Mount Kenya national reserve, police said Wednesday.
They said the 39-year-old woman and her daughter died instantly. Her husband and three other people on the outing Monday managed to escape.
"The woman was with the rest of her family walking in a forest near the hotel where they were staying when an elephant attacked them. The woman and her daughter died on the spot but the others escaped unhurt because they were able to run for their safety," a senior police officer said.
The incident happened in Mount Kenya Forest on the slopes of Africa's second highest mountain in central Kenya.
A US Embassy official in Nairobi said the woman and her husband were both employed by the International School of Kenya (ISK) and that only the school could comment. ISK phones were not being answered.
Police identified the mother only as S. Brown.
The family checked into Castle Forest Lodge in Mount Kenya National Reserve January 3 and the fatal accident happened the following day.
The lodge was built in 1910 by the then colonial government as a retreat for members of the British royal family, wildlife officials said.
"We are really saddened by the deaths of tourists to the country. It's a sad incident," Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udoto told AFP.
He said representatives of KWS and the Kenya Tourist Board had joined the woman's family at a Nairobi funeral home on Wednesday to express their condolences.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
