Laos Elephants Rampage In Seoul

[Kremlin]

In scenes reminiscent of an old Hollywood movie, six elephants made an unscheduled appearance on the streets of Seoul after escaping from an amusement park in Neung-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, on Wednesday afternoon. They strutted down the wide streets, attacked passersby, and marched into a restaurant breaking the glass windows.

The pachyderms were waiting in a tent next to the front gate of the Children’s Grand Park around 3:00 p.m. When their chains were loosened just a few moments before the performance was to begin, one enterprising animal made a dash for freedom and the others followed. In classic partisan tactics, the six dispersed when they reached the main road.

In the ensuing chaos, a 53-year-old woman identified as Noh was injured after she was struck on the chest and shoulder by the leg of the elephant. She also sustained a cut to her head and is being treated at a near hospital. Another elephant broke the window of a restaurant and went in.

The police mobilized a riot squad, 12 patrol cars and nearly a dozen fire trucks to recapture the fugitives. One surrendered voluntarily at Seoul Dongbu Police Station. Three of its relatives got as far as the entrance of Kunkuk University but were detained due to cooperative efforts of the trainers and the police. One, which had marched into a residential area near the crossroad at Achasan Station, was caught by police. The last one was surrounded in front of the water filtration plant by a battalion of trainers, police and firemen, and all six of them were frogmarched back to the Children’s Grand Park in the evening.

Two of the Laos-born elephants, which are five to seven years and weigh around 1.5 tons, had also escaped from the Songdo Resort in Incheon in October 2003, and loitered around downtown Incheon for one and a half hours before being caught by the police. “The elephants seemed to have been put under immense stress by a sudden change of environment after they were moved from Incheon,” an official at the Children's Grand Park said.

The Park’s performance arena accommodates 950 spectators on 5,280 square meters. A team of nine elephants, 10 Lao folk dancers and 15 trainers have performed five times a day since last Saturday.