Priyantha Ratnayake, Sri Lanka

Freelance TV journalist Priyantha Ratnayake was crushed to death by a wild elephant that he had been filming as it rampaged through the village of Minneriya in eastern Sri Lanka on Sept. 8, 2015. Colleagues shared his final footage on the Internet, which reportedly showed the elephant charging Ratnayake as he attempted to flee after having filmed several minutes. Another freelance journalist who witnessed Ratnayake’s death said the elephant “circled him twice and then crushed [him] with its head.”

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