For what it's worth, Bernhard may have been right. The day after shooting a safari park scene, an animal handler was mauled by a tiger. The assistant of special effects artist John Richardson was beheaded in a car crash that transpired nearby a road sign that read "Ommen, 66.6 km." Finally, the crew avoided a fiery death by the skin of their teeth—they didn't take the plane that was originally scheduled for aerial shots, which crashed and killed everyone on board.