Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand

Two elephants drowned during flash flooding in popular Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai, their sanctuary said Sunday, as local authorities evacuated visitors from their hotels and shops closed in the city centre.

More than 100 elephants at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province were moved to higher ground to escape rapidly rising floodwaters, according to an employee who gave her name as Dada.

But two elephants – named in local media as 16-year-old Fahsai and 40-year-old Ploython, who was blind – were found dead on Saturday.

“My worst nightmare came true when I saw my elephants floating in the water,” Saengduean Chailert, the director of the Elephant Nature Park in northern Thailand, told local media.

“I will not let this happen again, I will not make them run from such a flood again,” she said, vowing to move them to higher ground ahead of next year’s monsoon.

In Chiang Mai city centre, people waded through muddy water close to knee height in the night bazaar, and water flowed into the central railway station, which has now been closed.