Elephant kills village defense volunteer in Sa Kaew
A village defense volunteer was stomped to death by a wild elephant he encountered in a sugarcane plantation in Sa Kaew’s Khlong Hat district. The body of Ampai Wannakul, 52, was found at the plantation in Tambon Sai Thong yesterday morning.
His wife, Supee Wannakul, told police that Ampai went to join other villagers at a meeting the previous evening discussing plans to drive away a herd of wild elephants that had been reported wandering in the area earlier on Wednesday.
The same herd had reportedly been driven from other districts of Wang Nam Yen and Wattana Nakhon earlier this week. Khlong Hat district chief Chaiyaporn Paepiromrat said Ampai was considered an official under the Tambon Sai Thong Administrative Organisation, leading provincial Governor Pornphot Penpas to instruct the district to provide aid, including initial compensation to the family. It was reported that after the elephant killed Ampai, the herd headed back to Wang Nam Yen where they were last spotted at 9am.