Two elephants die in Thailand flooding

Two elephants have died after a sanctuary was flooded in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai.

Fah Sai and Ploy Thong were swept away by floodwaters as rescuers worked to evacuate the animals from the shelter.

Their bodies were later found roughly five kilometres downstream, amidst a pile of debris.

Sangduean Chailert, the founder of the Save Elephant Foundation and a Time Magazine Hero of Asia, described 16-year-old Fah Sai as playful, and a strong swimmer.

Meanwhile, she explained that Ploy Thong was 40-years-old and blind, which made it difficult for her to navigate the waters.

“Normally, she follows the sound of her friends’ footsteps and the mahout’s voice, since she can’t see. When the water came, she couldn’t save herself,” Chailert said.

Chailert rescued Ploy Thong from being a street-begging elephant when she was three-years-old.

She was one of more than 100 elephants living at the sanctuary, where there are also thousands of other abandoned, sick and disabled animals.

Chailert has buried the two elephants near where they were found and planted pink trumpet trees as a symbol to remember them.

Chiang Mai experience widespread flooding over the weekend after its main river burst its banks following heavy rainfall.

Elephants and other animals were evacuated from several sanctuaries across the city, and roughly ten animal shelters have been flooded.

Teams of elephants also helped relief volunteers reach residents cut off by severe flooding in Chiang Mai, using their immense size to wade through waters too deep for humans.