KANCHANABURI: Four members of a wild elephant watch team in Thong Pha Phum district were injured, two seriously, on Saturday when ping-pong bombs they were using to scare off a herd of four elephants. were set off accidentally.

Anont Thanomwong, the team leader, said he sent a group of four members out on a pick-up truck to a forest trail near Ban Nong Daeng in tambon Tha Khanun, where the four wild elephants were seen, to prevent them from rampaging across villagers' land in search of food. 

At about 5pm, the men saw the four elephants at close range. The animals charged at the pick-up truck, prompting a team member to pick up a ping-pong bomb and light the fuse with the intention of scaring the animals away with the loud noise of the explosion.

The lit fuse accidentally fell into a whole bag of ping-pong bombs in the back of the vehicle, causing a series of deafening explosions.

The accident succeeded in scaring the elephants away but injured four men on the pick-up truck, two seriously.

An emergency rescue unit from Tambon Tha Khanum Municipality was called to the scene. Two of the men were admitted to Thung Pha Phum Hospital while the two more seriously injured were sent to Phahon Pholphayuhasena Hospital in Kanchanaburi town.

Mr Anont said the four men are villagers who volunteer to keep watch for wild elephants to prevent them from causing damage to plantations and residential property.