Elephant stampede in Bellanwila Perahera (video)

Elephant stampede at Bellanwila Perahera ....which caused injury to 22 people and destroyed 3 vehicles

As a result of the elephant stampede that took place in Bellanwila Randoli Perahera on the night day-before-yesterday, 22 persons were admitted to hospital while a number of houses and 3 vehicles were damaged.


When the elephant named Hemantha  was parading the streets in the perahera  it had in the process attempted to break and pick a branch of a tree close to him, when the mahout had prevented it from doing so by pricking it with the goad at which moment it had been aroused; which then ended in a commotion caused by the elephant Hemantha. On that occasion the crowd too who had come to see the perahera had become upset, ending with another elephant going on a stampede. 

Elephant Hemantha who had been running amok all over the area had behaved aggressively by tumbling walls and by trampling the vehicles into a pulp. Later the elephant had run into a garden of a house and had toppled a vehicle parked there, damaging the walls. At this moment the two mahouts not being able to control the elephant had crept into a drain and were hiding there.

The relevant authorities who arrived on the scene then anaesthesized the elephant and took the elephant away the following morning, putting a stop to the destruction. As a consequence of this incident, 22 persons were hospitalised while 3 vehicles and some houses were seriously damaged.

Video scenes where the elephant went into a stampede, from BELOW