Tusker Muthu Raja will be flown back to Thailand for medical treatment

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, addressing parliament today, said that the gifted tusker Plai Sak Surin, also known as Muthu Rajah, will be sent back to Thailand for special treatment.

However, he said that the elephant would be brought back to Sri Lanka after the necessary treatment in Thailand.

Gunawardena said he apologised to the Thai Prime Minister for the incident during his recent visit to Thailand.

Thailand has arranged a date for the return of "Plai Saksurin," a male elephant who lived in Sri Lanka for 21 years, for treatment at the Chang Lampang Hospital. Saksurin, also known as Muthu Raja, was one of the three elephants gifted by the Kingdom of Thailand to Sri Lanka in 2001.

The Natural Resources and Environment Minister of Thailand, Warawut Silpa-archa, recently said that he worked with the Thai Embassy in Colombo to contact the moving cage company and contacted the Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft company to bring the elephant back to Thailand on July 1,