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11 elephants die trying to save calf trapped in Thai waterfall

Posted at 5:28 PM, Oct 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-08 21:33:37-04

Five more elephants have died after falling from a waterfall in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand, bringing the total dead to 11.

Five elephants and a 3-year-old calf died at a waterfall in Thailand during what authorities believe was an attempt by the adults to save the young one.
CREDIT: Thailand Department of National Parks Wildlife And Plant Conservation

Drone footage showed five more bodies in the same ravine where six elephants had died earlier, Nakhon Nayok Gov. Natthapong Sirichana said Tuesday.

On Saturday, five adult elephants stumbled into the ravine in what authorities said was an attempt to free a 3-year-old calf stuck in another part of the Haew Narok waterfall. All of them died after falling from the nearly 500-foot waterfall.

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It’s the country’s biggest loss of wild elephants in a national park, officials said.

Park officials managed to rescue two Saturday that were returned to their herd.

Now, officials are working to quickly remove the 11 bodies from Haew Narok, which means “hell abyss,” so they don’t pollute the stream, Thai news outlet MCOT reported.