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Six Killed in Thailand in Crash Caused by Elephant

<p>Wild elephant triggers three-vehicle accident in Thailand.</p>
Image: An elephant walks past vehicle after it crashed into it at a roadside in Rayong province
An elephant stands near a vehicle after it crashed into it at a roadside in Rayong province, Thailand on March 12, 2014.Reuters

Six people were killed in Thailand in a three-vehicle accident when a van crashed into a wild elephant crossing a road in pre-dawn darkness on Wednesday, a hospital official said.

All four occupants of the van were killed when it crashed into the elephant and then veered off the road, police said. Two people died in a car that rammed into a truck that had stopped at the scene.

"The elephant came down from the mountain where there's drought so it was probably searching for food," said police officer Teerawat Permwattanachaikul in the eastern province of Rayong.

"You can't really see elephants at night because their color is so dim."

The elephant, part of a group of three, was badly hurt and later died, Teerawat said.

— Reuters

Image: Rescue workers inspect the site where a vehicle crashed with an elephant at a roadside in Rayong  province
Rescue workers inspect the site where a vehicle crashed with an elephant at a roadside in Rayong province, east of Bangkok, on March 12, 2014.Reuters