Regional News
Elephant Kills Scottish Tourist on Koh Samui
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KOH SAMUI – A Scottish man has been killed and a mahout seriously injured by an elephant gone berserk during a trekking tour on Koh Samui.
The 36-year-old Scottish tourist was riding the male elephant with his 16-year-old daughter in a forested area of tambon Bor Phud this afternoon when, witnesses told police, Pamang, a Myanmar mahout, climbed down from 13-year-old elephant to take photos with the victim and his daughter.
The elephant struck Pamang with his trunk and stabbed him in the torso with a tusk.
The elephant then unseated the Scotsman and his daughter, then stomped the Scotsman and gored him in the chest with a tusk, killing him instantly. The bull elephant then ran into the forest.
The man’s daughter sustained minor injuries from the fall and managed to run and escape the main brutality of the attack.
The Samui Times reported that witnesses said shortly before the attack the elephant had appeared upset, an eye-witness said the Scottish tourist, who had a prosthetic leg, had been teasing the elephant with a banana that he offered to the bull before taking it back.
The elephant being agitated would not follow Pamang’s instructions. The handler hit him with a hook several times and the elephant then obeyed him.
Wongsiri Promchana, the Surat Thani governor, said a mahout at Island Safari Tour Co, which operated the trekking tour, said the elephant had shown signs similar to being on musth two days ago and the hot weather during the ride today may have upset the young bull.