Tourist played dead to survive elephant attack

A TOURIST who was trampled and gored by an elephant has revealed he survived the attack by pretending to be dead.

A tourist has revealed how he survived an elephant attack by playing dead / Supplied

A BRITISH tourist who was trampled and gored by an elephant has revealed he survived the attack by pretending to be dead.

Jonathan Sykes, 24, was lucky to survive the terrifying attack, which saw an elephant run out of the undergrowth and hit him in the back while he was camping in Kenya.

After initially trying to outrun the elephant, Mr Sykes pretended to be dead, hoping the elephant would lose interest in him.

“I decided to curl up in a ball and playing dead. I could hear it breathing at this point and it started pushing me along with its feet like a football for about 15 metres,” Mr Sykes told the UK’s Daily Mirror.

"It did put its feet on me but it didn't stamp on me with its whole weight. It was like it was prodding me to see if I was still alive.

"It then gored the ground near me and that's when I think it caught the back of my calf, ripping the muscle in half.”

Mr Sykes, who was with eight other tourists and two guides, was taken to hospital. He lost more than two litres of blood and needed about 80 stitches in his leg, which was cut from knee to ankle.

He says his lucky escape has not put him off elephants.

"He was just doing what comes naturally and defending himself from a potential threat. You can't really blame an animal for doing that.”

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