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Two teachers, one student injured in wild jumbo attack
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The damaged vehicle after it was attacked by a wild jumbo
Two lady teachers and a female student escaped with injuries after a lone wild elephant charged their vehicle at a location along the Dambulla – Kandy Road early last morning police and hospital officials said. Police and hospital authorities confirmed that the incident occurred at around 5.45 am at Digampathana, when a group of 12 female students and two teachers from the Hinkuragoda Balika Maha Vidayala were on a field trip to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens.
They added the two teachers and the student sustained non-life threatening head injuries and were being treated at the Dambulla Government Hospital.
The vehicle in which the group was travelling in was badly damaged during the attack. Driver of the coach -U.G. Welegedera- said the elephant had rushed at the vehicle without warning just as he was taking a sharp bend. He said he had braked hard to avoid a head-on collision with the animal.
Two teachers sustained serious head injuries
He added the animal subsequently attacked the rear of the vehicle which resulted in some of the passengers getting injured. Police said yesterday’s attack was the third by the same animal within the space of ten days. The elephant has been in the habit of attacking vehicles and then moving deep into the forest from whence it reappeared after some time.
They said this had been the practice of this particular elephant and at least 15 persons had been injured in similar attacks which occur shortly before daybreak. Officials said they believed the elephant came to the road in foraging for food and at times turned violent when unable to find food. Police are now seeking the assistance of the Wild Life Department to drive the animal back into the reservation. -(LB)
Some of the injured students. Pix by Kanchana Kumara Ariyadasa