Child thought to have been lifted by her father on to his shoulders to give her a better view of animals at Rabat zoo

A seven-year-old girl has died after being struck by a rock thrown by an elephant at a zoo in Morocco.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at Rabat zoo. The girl’s father is thought to have lifted her on to his shoulders to give her a better view of the animals. One of the elephants picked up a stone – nearly the size of half a brick – with its trunk and threw it. The stone struck the girl on the back of the head, knocking her unconscious.

Graphic video shot by another visitor after the incident shows bystanders trying to stem bleeding from the girl’s head as she lies on the ground waiting for an ambulance. She later died in hospital.

It is unclear what prompted the elephant to throw the stone, which experts said was unusual behaviour. Phyllis Lee, scientific director of the Amboseli Trust for Elephants, told the BBC that elephants could throw stones or branches when they were frustrated or bored. “In my opinion, it’s unlikely the elephant was directly targeting the girl but exhibiting frustration. You can’t predict what animals in captivity will do,” she said.

Rabat zoo issued a statement (pdf in French) offering its condolences to the girl’s family but denied responsibility for her death. It added that the enclosure, which housed three elephants, complied with international standards. It said the girl’s death was “rare, unpredictable and strange” and pointed out similar recent incidents in the US.

In May, a three-year-old boy entered a gorilla enclosure at Cincinnati zoo, prompting staff to shoot dead a 17-year-old male gorilla after he began to drag the child around.

In June, a two-year-old boy was killed after being snatched by an alligator on the shoreline of the Seven Seas Lagoon, an artificial lake at a Florida resort close to Disney World in Orlando.