Wild elephant hit by speeding car

A sad day for people and elephants in Thailand

Five persons were killed and four others injured in a car and truck crash with a wild elephant on the road from Ban Bung to Klaeng district of Rayong this morning. The accident happened on Highway 344 from Ban Bung to Klaeng at about 5.20 a.m.

Tambon Wangchan police said a speeding Pajero van rammed into an elephant which came out of the roadside jungle and crossed the road. The van then ploughed into the roadside ditch. Three persons in the van were killed and two others injured.
The elephant was seriously injured with broken legs.

As police and passers-by parked their cars by the road side to help, an unaware truck came in speed and rammed at the rear of a car parked to see the incident. In the related crash, one was killed. Forestry officials were sending a truck to take the badly injured male elephant for treatment. Hospital in Rayong said late this morning five persons died from the crash, and five injured.

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WFFT contacted the head of the forest department and he told us that the elephant had severe head wounds and a broken leg. If the elephant has indeed a broken leg the future is not very promising for this elephant. Although ThaiPBS and other news sources mentioned it was a female elephant with calves we are sure this is a male elephant (we edited the story)