More elephants confirmed dead after plummeting from waterfall in Thailand

The number of elephants killed by plummeting into a waterfall in Thailand has risen to 11.

Among the dead was a three-year-old calf and officials previously said the elder elephants may have been trying to rescue a younger member of their herd when they fell.

Officials at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said the animals were trying to cross the river at the top of the cliff on Saturday, when a strong current swept them over the edge of the waterfalls.

It was initially reported six had died during the incident at a waterfall named Haew Narok, which translates to Hell’s Abyss, though drone footage showed five more fatalities.

The animals were thought to be from a herd of 13, meaning only two of the group have survive the tragedy in the north east of the country.

"We assume that there were 13 elephants in this herd and two of them survived. We are 100% confident that two of them are alive as the officials saw them going out for food around the area of Haew Narok falls," Nattapong Sirichanam, governor of Nakhorn Nayok province adjacent to the mountains, said.

Thailand has only about 3,500 to 3,700 wild elephants left nationwide, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

The accident on Saturday is a setback to wildlife conservation in Thailand and happened at the same spot in Khao Yai National Park as a similar accident in 1992 that killed eight elephants.

The 772 square mile Kao Yai National Park is believed to have around 300 wild elephants as well as other wildlife and now that two major accidents have occurred there conservation officials are talking about building walkways over the falls.

Additional reporting by agencies.