Elephants saved tourists from tsunami<\/p>\n
KHAO LAK, Thailand: Agitated elephants felt the tsunami
\ncoming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign
\ntourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves.<\/p>\n
\"I was surprised because the elephants had never cried
\nbefore,\" mahout Dang Salangam said on Sunday on Khao Lak beach at
\nthe eight-elephant business offering rides to tourists.<\/p>\n
The elephants started trumpeting -- in a way Dang, 36, and his
\nwife Kulada, 24, said could only be described as crying -- at
\nfirst light, about the time an earthquake measured at a magnitude
\nof 9.0 cracked open the sea bed off Indonesia's Sumatra island.<\/p>\n
The elephants soon calmed down. But they started wailing again
\nabout an hour later and this time they could not be comforted
\ndespite their mahouts' attempts at reassurance.<\/p>\n
\"The elephants didn't believe the mahouts. They just kept
\nrunning for the hill,\" said Wit Aniwat, 24, who takes the money
\nfrom tourists and helps them on to the back of elephants from a
\nsturdy wooden platform. -- Reuters<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/elephants-saved-tourists-from-tsunami-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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