A tourist was trampled to death by an elephant in a national park in Uganda after he got out of the car he was travelling in.

The deceased, a Saudi national, was passing through the Murchison Falls National Park to Arua city with colleagues when they stopped to relieve themselves.

A herd of elephants charged at them and the deceased, who had moved further away from the vehicle, was unable to return.

The incident happened on Tuesday night but was widely reported on Wednesday.

The park authorities confirmed the incident and said investigations were ongoing.

They said measures were being put in place to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Animal attacks have been reported before in Ugandan parks.