Pracha Kasemsukpaisan, 44, sustained broken ribs and a broken pelvis, but is recovering following surgery. He had to crawl 500 metres to make a cell-phone call to his brother for help after the attack.

Pracha said he was at a makeshift hut on Monday night guarding his 16-rai pineapple orchard in Tambon Hat Kham, Kui Buri district when he heard a noise and discovered a big elephant foraging. He shone a spotlight at the elephant and drove it away.

He was patrolling the orchard again at 5am when the same elephant suddenly charged him and kicked his torso and pelvis. After the elephant retreated, Pracha struggled for two hours to reach his hut to call his brother, Pornsak.

"I felt like I was dying. I'm lucky I was conscious and the elephant did not come back for a second attack or I would have died in the orchard," he said.

Pornsak rushed his brother to Sam Roi Yod Hospital, where he underwent a two-hour operation.  Doctors said Pracha suffered a broken right hipbone, five broken ribs, one of which punctured his liver, and internal bleeding in his stomach. Pracha would stay in hospital for at least two weeks to ensure there were no complications or infections.

Fellow farmer Chamlong Boonkerd, 58, was shocked to learn about the attack. She also guards her pineapple orchard, as up to 10 wild elephants regularly invaded her land to feed on the fruit. "Driving the elephants away has to be done carefully because if you stand upwind, they will smell you and harm you," she said.

The Nation

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN