Trunk Road Rage! Watch a wild elephant ram a pick-up truck and flip it over as the driver refuses to wait for it to pass
- The witness said: ‘It was so scary. I thought I was going to have a heart attack’
- The incident occurred about 80 miles east of the capital, Bangkok, Thailand.
This is the moment a wild elephant rammed a pickup truck, flipping it over because the driver refused to wait in traffic as it passed.
Shocking footage showed the animal pushing its head and trunk against the vehicle while the driver was still inside.
The truck overturned in the bushes and the mammal continued to sniff it out about 80 miles east of the capital, Bangkok, in Thailand’s rural Chachoengsao province on Saturday night.
Shocked motorists, who said the incident was so terrifying they thought they were going to “have a heart attack”, backed off while calling emergency services.
The elephant disappeared into the desert before the rangers arrived.
Shocking footage showed the animal pushing its head and trunk against the truck while the driver was still inside.
Shocked motorists, who said the incident was so terrifying they thought they were going to “have a heart attack”, backed off while calling emergency services.
Driver Panida Anuan said: ‘The person inside the truck was safe but had some bruises from the fall.
‘It was so scary. I thought he was going to have a heart attack. We immediately left in case we were next.
Panida added that he called wildlife staff, who began tracking the elephant amid fears of a repeat attack. Paramedics also arrived and took the shaken driver to the hospital where he was treated for minor bruises sustained when the vehicle was pushed.
Authorities believe the elephant attacked the truck in a defensive move because the vehicle tried to continue down the narrow path past the jumbo, instead of turning off the engine and waiting for the animal to walk down the road, which is part of its territory.
Panida said: ‘We were relieved that the driver was safe. But we are still afraid to go down that route again.
Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild, up from 100,000 a century ago, and around 3,000 in privately owned captivity.
In the wild they are seen roaming freely among protected forests, occasionally appearing on the paths through them.
Male Asian elephants, unlike African elephants, roam alone once they are over ten years old, while females remain with the herd.
They are more during the mating season from November to January when they emerge from the jungles in search of a mate.
There is conflict when they come into contact with humans on rural roads and in villages, so park rangers are tasked with monitoring their movements.