Elephants help scout vast sugarcane plantations in search for missing 2-year-old boy

In this Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018, photo released by Suphan Buri City, four mahouts and their elephants start a search operation for a two-year-old Myanmar boy who went missing, in Suphan Buri, Thailand. (Suphan Buri City via AP)

Authorities enlisted the help of four elephants in their search for a 2-year-old boy from Burma who has been missing in Thailand for a week.

Sului Piew disappeared from a sugarcane plantation Dec. 17. The boy’s family was alerted of his disappearance when his 3-year-old friend told her parents that she saw the boy being abducted.

“We set up a search operation center near the field and we will continue with the search in full steam,” Nimit Wanchaithanawong, the governor of Suphan Buri province, said. “It's been more than a week and the child is so young. These few days will be very critical to all of us.”

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The dragnet for the missing child was launched Wednesday and involved hundreds of volunteers, police officers and soldiers. A team of divers also searched nearby ponds in hopes to find clues.

Police also enlisted the help of mahouts and their elephants to search the large plantation fields because they can sense the presence of life, Laithongrien Meepan, the elephants' owner, said.

“If we find a child, or dogs lying around, they know not to step on that,” Laithongrien said. “Mahouts can look out into the distance and elephants will raise their trunks to smell.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.