Hot on the heels of the tragedy in Kekirawa on Friday where an elephant turned on its own rescuer and trampled him to death, comes a story of another she elephant and her baby, fallen into a pit, nearly causing another tragedy yesterday.
The baby elephant’s squeals had attracted a large herd of elephants to the place forcing the panicked rescuers, including UNP MP Sajith Premadasa, to run for cover.
The two elephants were found in a pit yesterday in Moragollewa, Kekirawa, bordering the village of Morahena where Friday’s incident took place. However villagers were reluctant to approach the trapped elephants fearing another attack, with the previous day’s incident still fresh in their minds.
Wild Life officials and Mr. Premadasa arrived on the scene to give a hand to the two jumbos. With the help of the villagers, they managed to take the baby elephant out of the pit by sundown. The men were still struggling to pull up the mother elephant out when a large herd of wild elephants suddenly appeared out of nowhere creating panic. People began running in all directions. Some were seen climbing trees. Mr. Premadasa too ran for cover.
Mr. Premadasa said he would go back to the area today to rescue the elephant. | 
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