COLOMBO (AFP) — Two Sri Lankan baby elephants were not allowed to board their flight to Croatia Thursday after reportedly being refused entry permits due to fears of foot and mouth disease, airline officials said.

The two orphaned elephants were due to board a China Airlines 747-400 jumbo jet for a scheduled 10-hour flight to Luxembourg from where they were to catch a chartered flight to Belgrade and on to the Croatian city of Osijek.

"The wildlife department officials told us that the elephants will not make it today because the Croatian embassy in New Delhi advised them that entry permits will not be issued for the two babies," an airline official said.

The animals, from an elephant orphanage in the central town of Pinnawela, were to be accompanied by four people, including two mahouts — elephant keepers — and a veterinary surgeon.

The animals were a gift from Sri Lanka to the Japanese government which in turn donated the elephants to the children of Osijek whose zoo lost its only elephant due to the 1991-1995 war there.

Japanese children had pooled their pocket money to raise the air freight to take the jumbos to Osijek.

Wildlife officials here said they had received reports from Croatia that the country’s agricultural ministry had banned the entry of the two elephants citing fears of foot and mouth disease.

"We can confirm that the baby elephants do not have any such disease. We are talking to the Croatian authorities and hope we can clear this misunderstanding," a wildlife department official said.

The loss of one of Croatia’s three elephants had tugged at the heart-strings of Japanese students who came to Sri Lanka in October in search of an elephant.

Seven Japanese boys and girls arrived in Sri Lanka to scout for a pair of elephants to present to Croatian children as a replacement for Suzie, an Asian elephant, who was moved to Hungary during the Croatian war and is now too old to return.

Sri Lanka gave the baby elephants to Japan to coincide with the golden jubilee of diplomatic ties between the two nations.