A tour guide was trampled to death by a temple tusker at Kande Viharaya in Aluthgama on Monday afternoon after approaching the elephant to take a selfie, the Daily Mirror reports.
The victim is named as Piyashantha de Silva, 35, a resident of Middaramulla in Ahungalla. He had visited the temple with a group of tourists when the elephant attacked him, the Daily Mirror reported at 5.45 p.m. Colombo time.
He was rushed to Balapitiya Base Hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit, where he later died of his injuries.
Aluthgama Police are conducting further investigations.
Context
Kande Viharaya, on the Galle Road at Aluthgama in the Kalutara district, is one of the main Buddhist temples on the south-western coastal strip and a fixture on tourist itineraries between Bentota and Beruwala. Temple elephants kept for ceremonial duties are a routine presence at such sites, and visitors are commonly able to approach them.
The death comes while elephant welfare is already under national scrutiny. This desk has covered the death of the iconic tusker Kavantissa and the allegations from villagers in that case, as well as a Tri-Forces deployment on human–elephant conflict. Those cases concern wild elephants and alleged killings of animals; this is the inverse — a captive ceremonial animal killing a person — and no filing links the two.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror’s account does not name the elephant, say whether it is the temple’s own tusker or one brought in for a ceremony, or report whether a mahout was present and in control at the time. It does not say whether any of the tourists in the group were injured, give the time of the attack or of the death, or state whether the animal has since been secured.
Nothing in the filing indicates whether the Department of Wildlife Conservation or the National Zoological Gardens has been notified, whether the temple holds a licence for the animal, or whether the elephant has any history of aggression. No charge or finding has been made against any person.
Sourcing
Ada Derana filed on the same incident, under the headline “Tourist guide killed in elephant attack at Aluthgama Kande Viharaya” (news ID 250573). It is not cited here: Ada Derana’s pages have returned a CloudFront error to this desk for 47 consecutive days, so its publish date cannot be verified and it cannot be used as a source under this desk’s freshness rule. Its headline is recorded because it independently confirms the location and the victim’s occupation.
Neither the NewsFirst homepage rail nor the Hiru News homepage rail carried the story when this report was written, both checked directly rather than assumed. This report will be updated if further filings appear.
