Elephant kills trainer at Japan zoo

TOKYO: An elephant whacked a trainer with its trunk and killed him at a Japanese zoo on Sunday, police said.

Wichai Madee from Thailand was washing an Indian elephant with a colleague at Adventure World in the western prefecture of Wakayama when the giant animal swung its trunk and hit him. "The animal might have somehow become angry. It swung its trunk and the trunk hit the person who was working in front of the elephant," a police spokesman told AFP.

"The person apparently was pushed hard and hit either the cage or the ground and hit his head."