The young man who faced the incident of being attacked by wild elephants while camping in Udadiyaluma area of Koslanda says that the person who guided him to camp did not tell him that the place was an elephant den.
22-year-old Dhanushka Madhushan, who is being treated at the Diyathalawa Base Hospital for his injuries, commented to the media today (13) regarding the incident.
“As soon as they saw the bike , a boy came running as a guide. We were taken down. A little lower place had been cleaned. He said he cleaned it himself. They told me to pitch the tent there.”
“Elephants come to drink water from above. They said they will not come through the river. We cooked and ate noodles. I ate and slept a little. I heard noises while sleeping.. There was a dog with us. I heard dog resisting some thing. I thought it was a wild boar.”
“I didn’t even hear a sound of elephants. but elephent evaded the barking dog and hit the tent. The elephant fell as soon as it hit the tent. Then came back to the tent. The tent got torn. Just like that, I moved the tent away. It didn’t go well.”
“The elephant started spinning around. I don’t care about anything, I want nothing to happen to her.. I hugged her and be on top of her. I felt .. the elephant is trampling me. I remained silent. I told her not to be afraid. Her leg was damaged but she was fine remained with me for about 4 hours. She did not aske anything else. She asked if she would be able to fix her leg to walk.
It was bleeding inside, something must have happened. She spoke after 4 hours. She asked for water. I couldn’t even get up, it was difficult. I some how opened the bag and gave her water. She inclined. Because she said she is faintish, I thought because of that must have fallen asleep. I also fell asleep. It didn’t really occur to me to call 1990. I called my friend. It was a little visible as morning light was there before I went to take the call. I looked at her. She didn’t speak. I checked her pulse. It didn’t work. No pulse. Her eyes were black. That’s when I realized that she was not with me.”