Thai elephant handler charged in tourist’s death
The Thai mahout responsible for an elephant which killed a tourist last week has been charged with negligence.
Police have charged Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38 with negligence causing death.
Theerayut was overseeing the bathing session at an elephant sanctuary when the elephant lashed out at Blanca Ojanguren García, 22 from Spain.
She died a little later in hospital due to the head injury.
It happened at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in southern Thailand.
The incident has renewed calls to ban elephant tourism practices like this.
The elephant was described as ‘panicked’ at the time.
There are thought to be almost 3,000 elephants at tourist attractions in Thailand.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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