Furious elephant stomps people at ordination ceremony in Buriram
Ten people were injured after an elephant went on a rampage during an ordination ceremony at a temple in Buriram province on Saturday, local officials and residents said.
The elephant stomped an elderly woman on her hip and severely injured her, while another woman – Supranee Maliwan, 61 – said her arm was broken in the attack.
Supranee said more than 1,000 people had gathered for the ceremony in front of Wat Nong Tat in the province’s Lam Plai Mat district.
She said she was standing in front of the three elephants brought to the ceremony and was unable to jump out of the way when one of them attacked.
The 10 victims were sent to hospital for treatment.
Surat Inthasri, 56, said his right leg was injured by the elephant. He was pushing a child away from the attacking elephant when it struck him, he said.
Pranom Chaitrong, 63, blamed children for the rampage, saying they ran around the elephant as the ceremony’s host offered alms.
"Some children collected alms near the elephants even though the host warned people to stay away from them," she said.
Pranom said she asked the host to stop taking elephants to ordination ceremonies to prevent such attacks from happening again.
Related stories:
