When elephants cried8230;

Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by ...

Agitated elephants felt the tsunami coming, and their sensitivity saved about a dozen foreign tourists from the fate of thousands killed by the giant waves.

8216;8216;I was surprised because the elephants had never cried before,8217;8217; mahout Dang Salangam said on Sunday on Khao Lak beach.

The elephants started trumpeting 8212; in a way, Dang, 36, and his wife Kulada, 24, said could only be described as crying 8212; at first light, about the time an earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale cracked open the seabed off Sumatra. The elephants soon calmed down. But they started wailing again about an hour later and this time, they could not be comforted despite their mahouts8217; attempts at reassurance.

8216;8216;The elephants didn8217;t believe the mahouts. They just kept running for the hill,8217;8217; said Wit Aniwat, 24, who collects the money from tourists and helps them on to the back of elephants from a sturdy wooden platform.

Those with tourists aboard headed for the jungle-clad hill behind the resort beach where at least 3,800 people, more than half of them foreigners, would soon be killed. The elephants that were not working broke their hefty chains.

8216;8216;Then, we saw the big wave coming and we started running,8217;8217; said Wit. Around a dozen tourists were also running towards the hill from the Khao Lak Merlin Resort, one of a line of hotels strung along the 10 km beach, especially popular with Scandinavians and Germans.

nbsp;	Alexander8217;s tuskers on rescue mission

		nbsp;	8226; PHUKET: Six jumbos, who featured in Oliver Stone8217;s recent blockbuster Alexander, were trucked in from an elephant camp in the ancient capital Ayuthaya, 800 km north of shattered Phuket, to speed up the search operation. 8216;8216;We use the elephants because a truck can8217;t pass through the thick forest,8217;8217; said trainer Laitonglian Meepan. The elephants were rescued and rehabilitated by the Ayuthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal after authorities had threatened to put them down for attacking humans. 8212;Reuters	nbsp;

8216;8216;The mahouts managed to turn the elephants to lift the tourists on to their backs,8217;8217; said Kulada. She used her hands to describe how the huge beasts used their trunks to pluck the foreigners from the ground and deposit them on their backs.

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The elephants charged up the hill through the jungle, then stopped. The tsunami drove up to 1 km in shore from the gently sloping beach which had been so safe for children it made Khao Lak an ideal place for a family holiday. But it stopped short of where the elephants stood.

On Sunday, the elephants were back at work giving rides to the tourists on whom the area depends.