TOP SECRET ANIMAL ATTACK FILES
from The Electronic Telegraph, London
| HOME | Wife
tells of elephant ordeal By Matt Born Wednesday 6 October, 1999 |
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| Animal Attack Books |
THE wife of a lay preacher who was seriously
hurt saving her from a charging elephant said yesterday that they had said
goodbye to each other believing he was about to die.
Steven Street, 32, from Middlesbrough, suffered multiple injuries after being trampled by a three-ton bull elephant while on safari in Botswana. The elephant went for Mr Street as he waved and shouted to divert it from his wife, Margaret, and the others in the party. Mr Street, an oil rig worker and keen wildlife photographer, had been unconscious on a life support machine in a hospital in Gaborone, the Botswana capital, after the accident on Sept 25. His injuries included a broken shoulder along with six ribs and a punctured lung. But Mrs Street, 32, told The Telegraph yesterday that he had regained consciousness and his condition had "greatly improved". He was now breathing unaided. She said: "He is exhausted but trying to talk. He is sitting up and has just eaten his first meal, some soup." Mrs Street said that her husband had thought he was going to die as he lay trapped under the elephant which fell on top of him when it was shot three times in the head by a guide. "He said, 'I love you' and 'goodbye'. It was dreadful, awful." |