Four people escaped without injury after the car they were travelling in collided with a wild elephant on the Habarana–Minneriya main road early on Monday (3), Hiru News reported.
The collision happened at about 1.10 a.m. on the stretch of the main road that runs through Minneriya National Park. The elephant was standing on the road, and the darkness at that hour meant the driver did not see it in time, according to the report.
The elephant was angered by the impact and attacked the car. The occupants got out and ran, escaping unhurt.
The vehicle was severely damaged. Police said a woman and three men were travelling in it, all residents of the Ottamavadi area.
The report did not say whether the elephant was injured.
A stretch of road with a history
The Habarana–Minneriya road cuts directly through Minneriya National Park, one of the country’s best-known elephant habitats and the site of the annual dry-season “Gathering” at the Minneriya tank. Vehicles sharing the road with elephants after dark is a recurring hazard on this route and the neighbouring Habarana–Polonnaruwa road.
Vehicle collisions form part of a wider pattern of human-elephant conflict. In June, a woman was killed when a van hit an elephant in Polonnaruwa, and in July an elephant attacked a van at Padukka, injuring five.
The Department of Wildlife Conservation recorded 180 wild elephant deaths in the first seven months of the year. The government has been pursuing several mitigation measures, including a national action plan on human-elephant conflict, the gazetting of elephant corridors and a bamboo bio-fence pilot.
