Elephant rips mahout’s body in half in southern Thailand

An elephant ripped its mahout in half with its tusks yesterday morning at a rubber plantation in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga province. Police think the elephant was annoyed at its owner for making it haul rubberwood in the hot weather.

At 11.30am, officers from Takua Thung Police Station were informed that a mahout had been killed by a 20 year old male elephant named Pom Pam in the Tha Yu subdistrict.

Police, the village chief, and rescue workers rushed to the scene where they found the body of 32 year old Supachai Wongfaed ripped in two in a pool of blood in the middle of the rubber plantation. Police said the elephant had stabbed the man with its tusks several times and ripped his body in half.

The police’s preliminary investigation revealed that Supachai had taken Pom Pam to the rubber plantation to haul rubberwood in the morning. Police said the hot weather may have made the elephant “go crazy” and subsequently attack and kill its owner.

Phang Nga Provincial Livestock officers were called to the scene and shot the elephant with a sedative dart from a range of around 500 metres so that rescue workers could retrieve Supachai’s body.

The mahout was the son of Thawon Wongfaed, former mayor of the Khok Charoen subdistrict.

Supachai’s body has been handed over to his relatives for religious ceremonies to be carried out.

Last month, an elephant stabbed its mahout to death with its tusks in Nakhon Sri Thammarat province and stood to watch over his corpse for hours. Locals told police the mahout had taken the elephant up a hill to work. They suspected that the elephant was stressed from work, which is why it stabbed its mahout to death.

SOURCE: KhaoSod