Sidor Daeng, a 15-year-old bull elephant which killed one person previously, fled from a detention centre in Sa Kaeo province once again on Saturday after he had been recaptured on Thursday.
Decha Nilwichien, chief of the Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary, said the elephant destroyed the detention's electric fence and escaped from the centre in Khao Takrub, a forest area in Wang Nam Yen district, in the early hours of Friday. Khao Takrup is part of the wildlife sanctuary.
Forest officials have been deployed to track down the animal and a warning has been issued to villagers who live near the sanctuary which covers five provinces: Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Sa Kaeo.
On Thursday, Sidor Daeng, Asia's heaviest elephant weighing seven tonnes, was recaptured after he fled from the centre in January.
Sidor Daeng is believed to have roamed the eastern region, raiding fruit orchards and crop fields and killing one person who got in his way.
The pachyderm reportedly entered Cambodia via Sa Kaeo's Klong Hat district and attacked a woman.
It then returned to Chanthaburi via Soi Dao district.
Park officials, local officials, soldiers and volunteers, about 100 in total, launched a massive search operation and the elephant was found at Ban Tabok Pia in Makham district on Thursday morning.
Five tranquiliser darts were fired to sedate Sidor Daeng and a large backhoe was called in from the Chanthaburi Provincial Administration Organisation to lift the seven-tonne elephant onto a 10-wheel truck.
Park officials have described Sidor Daeng as smart but moody.
