A “panic-stricken” elephant killed a Spanish woman while she was bathing the animal at an elephant centre in Thailand, local police said.

Blanca Ojanguren García, 22, was washing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre last Friday when she was gored to death by the animal.

Experts told Spanish language newspaper Clarín that the elephant could have been stressed by having to interact with tourists outside its natural habitat.

García, who was a law and international relations student at Spain’s University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange programme.