An Mtunzini family escaped death or serious injury after their vehicle was pounded and flipped by a bull elephant on a tourist road leading to the beach at Cape Vidal on Sunday morning. Officials from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority did not respond to media queries on Sunday night, but reliable sources have confirmed that the incident happened near Catalina Bay on the eastern shore of Lake St Lucia. The occupants – believed to be a husband, wife and their two children, aged eight and 10, from the coastal town of Mtunzini – were reported to be severely traumatised, but not seriously hurt. It is unclear why the elephant attacked the car, but it is understood that an investigation will be launched by park officials. Dramatic video footage taken by the occupants of another vehicle show the elephant shoving a white Ford 4x4 bakkie after it had flipped the vehicle over onto its roof. Images circulated on social media show that the windscreen was cracked, with dents to both sides of the vehicle.

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