MEXICO CITY, Sept. 23, 2008

Escaped Circus Elephant Dies In Bus Crash

Driver Also Killed, Four Passengers Injured On Busy Highway North Of Mexico City

  • A man stands next to a dead elephant after it was hit by a passenger bus on the outskirts of Mexico City, early on Sept. 23, 2008. The five-ton elephant escaped from a circus and wandered onto a busy highway, where it was hit by a bus and died. Photo

    A man stands next to a dead elephant after it was hit by a passenger bus on the outskirts of Mexico City, early on Sept. 23, 2008. The five-ton elephant escaped from a circus and wandered onto a busy highway, where it was hit by a bus and died.  (AP PHOTO)

(AP)  A five-ton elephant escaped from a circus and wandered onto a busy highway, where it was hit by a bus. Both the driver and pachyderm were killed early Tuesday.

Bus driver Tomas Lopez, 49, was killed and at least four passengers were hospitalized after the pre-dawn collision in Ecatepec, just north of Mexico City.

State police spokesman Juan Sanchez said the elephant escaped from its cage at the Circo Union, but he declined to give any other details. He said officials were investigating.

The state-funded Notimex news agency reported that the elephant named Indra escaped as its keeper arrived to feed it, knocking down a metal door and wandering through two neighborhoods before trying to cross the highway.

Last month, a 500-pound lion escaped from a local lawmaker's private zoo in southern Mexico, killing two dogs and a pig and attacking a woman and child on a donkey before it was sedated and captured.

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Add a Comment
by dnamj September 23, 2008 7:28 PM PDT
oh, my god. That is so sad. :(
Reply to this comment
by mandalay-bay September 23, 2008 7:52 PM PDT
poor elephant.

how could the bus driver not see an elephant coming?

maybe he was texting too.....
Reply to this comment
by easeup-2009 September 23, 2008 8:40 PM PDT
The largest, slowest animal on earth and the bus driver doesn''t notice him?????

The bus driver had to be smoking the cali...
Reply to this comment
by nothappyatall September 23, 2008 9:06 PM PDT
Poor elephant...
Reply to this comment
by smurfcrusher September 23, 2008 9:59 PM PDT
"Why did the elephant cross the road?"

To catch a bus, silly.

Reply to this comment
by nishaboston September 24, 2008 4:32 AM PDT
The largest, slowest animal on earth and the bus driver doesn''''t notice him?????

The bus driver had to be smoking the cali...


Posted by easeup at 08:40 PM : Sep 23, 2008

If your driving on a highway at a steedy speed as most people do on the highway and over suddenly you see a 5 ton elephant walking across it is not that easy to stop especially in the dark. I guess you don''t drive.
Reply to this comment
by webchick2 September 24, 2008 6:14 AM PDT
when i read the news and saw this elephant i asked myself what would make it cross the road with a bus coming towards it? i believe adt14 is right. these animals are ill treated by ignorant and bestial men.
it''s sickening
Reply to this comment
by tootall10142 September 25, 2008 2:05 AM PDT
When i die i want to go like my grandfather in my sleep not screaming like the people riding in the back.
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