A group of six Indian tourists who had gone to have a good time at Murchison Falls National Park,some 350 km northwest of Kampala, ended up mourning as elephants attacked them, leaving one of their colleague dead.

Local media reported on Tuesday that the incident took place near Nyamusika cliff during an aborted game drive on Sunday.

A female elephant, which was hidden in a thicket with its calf, ambushed a man and his son who were part of the tourists.

The tourists were trying to take a closer look at the elephants and take photographs of the scenery that is also washed by the Victoria Nile on its way to Lake Albert.

The group split into two and the one which did not have a ranger guide was the one attacked.

The local reports said the elephant used its trunk and lifted the victim who was carrying his son. "It swung him around, hitting him on the trunk of a thick tree," an eyewitness who was at the scene was quoted as saying.

The child, who survived was thrown a short distance away from the scene but the elephant concentrated on the man, stepping him and using its tusks to pierce his stomach.

By the time the rescue team arrived at the scene, the man was already dead.

Park authorities blamed the incident on failure to stick to the regulations that outlaw straying off the tourism area.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2005)