Elephant dies on Spanish motorway as circus truck crashes

Crane used to winch other elephants who wandered loose on Pozo Canada road

One elephant has been killed and a further two have been injured after a circus truck, which was carrying five elephants in total, crashed on a motorway near Pozo Cañada in south east Spain. Video: Reuters

One elephant died and two others were injured when a circus truck carrying five of the animals crashed in southeastern Spain on Monday, authorities said.

Video footage showed emergency services using a crane to winch one of the animals from the road in Pozo Canada, in the province of Albacete, as others wandered loose.

Civil Guard police tweeted a photo of a uniformed official standing in front of two of the roving animals, and wrote:

“Our Albacete traffic comrades today, attending to some elephants who were victims of an accident in Pozo Canada (unfortunately one of the pachyderms died).”

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An injured elephant being lifted and loaded into a truck after a circus truck crashed on a highway near Pozo Canada in Spain. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
An injured elephant being lifted and loaded into a truck after a circus truck crashed on a highway near Pozo Canada in Spain. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

The head of the government's traffic department, Gregorio Serrano, said on Twitter that early indications suggested the truck had overturned as it tried to overtake another vehicle.

–Reuters