Pilgrims flee as elephant runs amok

A religious festival in Sri Lanka ended in chaos after an elephant in the procession panicked, with 13 people in the crowd injured as they fled, police said.

Video footage on social media showed one of the elephant’s keepers trying to pull the agitated animal by its tail, desperately trying to control it while screaming devotees lining the street rushed to escape.

The images show a parade of elephants covered in red, blue, and gold robes from trunk to tail in front of a large crowd while cymbals clanged.

Thirteen people were taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries in Kataragama, 280 km south of the capital Colombo, a police spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Kataragama hospital said on Sunday, the day after the incident, all the injured had been discharged.

There have been instances when the animals have gone berserk at parades involving loud music and fireworks.

In August 2023, dozens of pilgrims jumped into a lake in the central city of Kandy to escape five agitated young elephants. Several people were hurt, and one woman was hospitalized.

In 2019, at least 17 people were injured when elephants ran amok at a temple festival in Colombo.

Official records show about 200 domesticated elephants in the island nation and a wild population of around 7,500.

The government has banned the capture of wild elephants, but dozens of calves have been stolen in recent years, often after their mothers were killed by their captors.