Wild elephant kills 2 men

  • 30/10/2015
(AAP)
(AAP)

A wild elephant has killed two men in separate pre-dawn attacks as they worked at a rubber plantation in eastern Thailand.

The tappers, both in their 40s and working about three kilometres apart, were killed at the plantation in Kang Hang Maew district of Chanthaburi province on Friday (local time).

"We believe the same elephant killed both victims based on its path," local police lieutenant Sawai Chinwong said.

A third tapper, a woman, suffered two broken legs at the scene of one of the attacks.

According to Sawai, the elephant trampled on the men, using its trunk to fling them to the ground as well as goring them with its tusks.

Thailand – where the pachyderm is a national symbol – has an estimated 2500 wild elephants, outnumbered by its roughly 4000 domesticated ones.

Earlier this month a video went viral on social media of a cyclist being charged by a herd of wild elephants in Khao Yai national park, about 200 kilometres from Bangkok.

The man, who escaped unharmed, is shown pressing his palms together in a prayer-like gesture towards the animals.

In August an elephant killed his "mahout" keeper in the country's north before running off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists still on his back.

And in June an elephant killed a Thai man and injured another as they were eating dinner at a beachside restaurant. The pair had been talking to the animal's mahout when it suddenly flipped.

AFP