VietNamNet Bridge – A 13-year-old boy in Dong Nai was flung to the ground by a circus elephant on April 10 after being provoked.

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The mid-day accident occurred when the Sao Mai Circus Troupe from Hai Duong was preparing for a show in Dong Nai province.

Some witnesses said that a group of students from Binh Da Secondary School were playing football near the circus grounds and saw an elephant from the circus troupe chained to a truck and surrounded by a fence.

The victim, named Tin, and around six other boys, broke into the temporary cage to tease the elephant. Tin snatched the elephant’s tail several times while the other boys threw stones at or beat the elephant. The elephant became angry and used his trunk to grab Tin. The animal raised the boy up to a height of around 4 meters and threw him to the ground, then repeated its action once again. The boy fainted.

His friends became scared and called for circus troupe’s workers to save Tin. The boy was brought to a nearby hospital where doctors found that his neck was broken and his brain was seriously injured. Tin died at the hospital.

A provincial official noted that this circus troupe was licensed to perform and that they has hired the football ground to build a stage on April 10.

At the site, the elephant was held by a small iron chain and, when the accident happened, the elephant’s keeper was asleep under the truck.

Nguyen Van Hung, the circus troupe’s manager, said that the incident occurred at noon, so the troupe’s guards were careless and should have prevented the teens from teasing the elephant, which weighs around 2 tons.

PV