--- description: She was posing for a photo when she was hit title: Girl Dies After Elephant Throws Rock At Her In Moroccan Zoo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd79b845ad02a672/6988a01b2dce014d2c9ea183/elephant-death-girl-morracco.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Morocco](/tag/morocco/) ## Morocco Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Young Girl Dies After Elephant Throws Rock At Her Head In Moroccan Zoo by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 28, 2016 4:03 PM CUT  by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 28, 2016 4:03 PM CUT A seven-year-old girl [has died](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/28/seven-year-old-girl-dies-in-moroccan-zoo-after-elephant-threw-ro/ "undefined") after an elephant threw a rock that hit her head at a Moroccan zoo, The _Telegraph_ reported Thursday. The girl, who has not been identified, was posing for a photo in front of the elephant exhibit at the Jardin Zoologique in Rabat when she was hit. One of the elephants in the enclosure used its trunk to pick up a rock and toss it into the air, where it hit the girl on the back of her head. The girl was taken to a hospital with severe head injuries and died several hours later. Video [footage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJWHlDgpUkk "undefined") of the incident’s aftermath shared on social media shows a group of bystanders gathered around the girl and her family holding her head. A zoo spokesman offered sympathy to the girl’s family but said the elephant enclosure met international standards, according to The _Telegraph_. “This tragic event happened when the elephant threw a projectile which went over the fence, as well as a ditch which separates the animal from visitors,” the zoo spokesman said. “These kinds of accidents are rare, unforeseeable and unusual. The zoo’s staff offers their deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased at this difficult time.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4428623/girl-dies-elephant-moroccan-zoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4428623/girl-dies-elephant-moroccan-zoo/"},"headline":"Young Girl Dies After Elephant Throws Rock At Her Head In Moroccan Zoo","datePublished":"2016-07-28T16:03:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:57:35.414Z","description":"She was posing for a photo when she was hit","url":"https://time.com/4428623/girl-dies-elephant-moroccan-zoo/","keywords":["Morocco","animals","Zoos","Elephant"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd79b845ad02a672/6988a01b2dce014d2c9ea183/elephant-death-girl-morracco.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcd79b845ad02a672/6988a01b2dce014d2c9ea183/elephant-death-girl-morracco.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"elephant-death-girl-morracco","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/morocco/","name":"Morocco"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4428623/girl-dies-elephant-moroccan-zoo/","name":"Young Girl Dies After Elephant Throws Rock At Her Head In Moroccan Zoo"}}]}] ```