Elephant tramples handler to death in Thailand

Angry bull: Meaw the elephant threw off his handler, trampled him to death, and disappeared into the jungle in Phang Nga, Thailand with a Russian woman and her nine-year-old daughter still on his back (stock image)

* Bull threw off his handler and trampled him to death during trek

* Elephant then ran off into the jungle with tourists still on its back

* Meaw the elephant made it two miles into jungle in Phang Nga, Thailand

* He was tranquillized, and Russian woman and her daughter saved

A routine jungle trek turned into tragedy when an elephant killed his handler and ran off with two tourists in south-west Thailand.

Meaw the bull elephant is believed to have been in musth when he suddenly threw off his handler, trampled him to death, and disappeared into the jungle with a Russian woman and her nine-year-old daughter still on his back.

Meaw was discovered nearly two miles away from the resort in Phang Nga, 310 miles south of Bankok, and had to be tranquilized so the woman and her daughter could climb off.

The body of Suk Subbak, a 60-year-old elephant handler, was found a few hundred metres away.

The jungle trek is a common activity offered to tourists visiting southern Thailand, and it is not yet known what brought on Meaw's outburst.

Meaw, an 18-year-old bull elephant, suddenly threw off Mr Subbak, trampled him, and ran off with the tourists during a standard trek on Sunday.

Rescuers followed the elephant into the jungle and was able to locate him 30 minutes later.

Another handler was able to jump onto Meaw's neck by climbing up a nearby slope, but it still took several tranquilizer darts before the elephant was calm enough for the woman and her daughter to get off safely, Phuket Wan reports.

It is thought that Meaw was in musth, a periodic change in bull behaviour related to an elated level in testosterone, which takes place in the winter months

During this time even the most calm and peaceful bull becomes highly aggressive, and produces 40 to 60 times more testosterone than during non-musth.

Although musth is caused by the male elephant's hormones, it is not connected to female elephants being in heat, and the reason for musth is a topic of debate among elephant experts.

It is believed to be a way of marking territory, but it is also argued that musth is a way for weaker male elephants in a heard to mate with the females, rather than just the strongest bull, thus preventing inbreeding.