An elephant tramples on a security guard near Kruger National Park as he watches the wandering lions

A guard was trampled to death by an elephant while he was monitoring the wandering lions in South Africa.

Eric Kgatla, 45, was on patrol at the Foskor mine in the town of Phalaborwa, Limpopo Province, when he saw the animal in the dark.

He and his colleagues were on full alert Friday night after seeing a pride of lions wandering near the mine earlier in the day.

Mr. Kgatla left his hut after hearing noises on Friday night. Another security guard found his body around 4am on Saturday.

Frans Mkhondo, spokesman for the mine, said News24: "The other security [guard] heard the sound of an elephant, he went out to inspect it and, upon his arrival, he found an elephant outside the guards house. "

"He phoned to ask for help for the other security guard. When security arrived, the elephant was gone and they found the deceased dead behind the guard post. He was trampled to death.

"Our premises are adjacent to Kruger National Park, so the animals break the fence and move around our area."

The incident came just a day after the provincial government of Limpopo warned the public and miners that 14 lions had escaped from Kruger National Park.

However, it was later revealed that the lions were not coming from the park and had been living in the vicinity of the mine for some time.

The government added that the park could not accommodate the animals because they could run up against existing pride in the established territories.

The Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism confirmed that the lions had been brought back to their usual place of pride on Saturday night.

The news of the lions' escape was announced just days after a leopard at the park had killed a toddler.

The fat cat had entered the premises of the Malelane Technical Service and had killed the 30-month-old boy, who was the son of the staff.

Members of his family took him to Shongwe Hospital, but died as a result of his injuries.

The leopard was then found and shot.

The park said in a statement at the time: "In parks such as KNP, predators interact with tourists and staff, which can sometimes bring species like the leopard to get used to people. and to lose fear. The change in natural behavior can then lead to unfortunate incidents such as this one.

"These events are very rare, but they are always tragic when they happen."