Two killed in attack by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh
Raipur: Two persons died in separate incidents of elephant attacks in the Balrampur district of Chhattisgarh, officials said here.
The attacks happened on Monday evening in separate villages under the Ramanujganj police station.
According to the police, in Chhatwa-Fulwar village, late Monday night, a couple was severely injured when a woman attempted to save her husband from an attack by a group of elephants. The Ramanujganj police station in-charge, Ramakant Tiwari, confirmed the report and told IANS that the woman, identified as Asmina (40), suffered serious injuries in the attack and later succumbed to her injuries during treatment on Tuesday morning.
Her husband, Usman (45), remains in critical condition, the police officer said.
The elephants first struck the woman, uprooting one of her hands during the attack, leaving her critically injured alongside her husband. Both were initially admitted to the Community Health Center for primary treatment, however, she could not survive.
The villagers, enraged by her death and the frequent incidents of elephant attacks, staged a Chakka Jam on the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand road, accusing forest officials of negligence.
“The situation is under control, yet human-elephant conflicts are common in the area,” the police officer said further.
In another incident on Monday night in Rampur village, the officer further stated that a person identified as Durga Prasad (50) lost his life after being attacked by a group of elephants. The incident occurred in the same police station area.
Balrampur district shares its border with the dense forest areas of Jharkhand. The forest is dominated by the presence of elephants, which often roam in both states. The area is naturally demarcated by the Kanhar River.
Last year, a wild elephant also trampled a person, Chamra Ram (60), to death in the Rajpur area of the Balrampur district. Chamra Ram encountered a group of eight elephants near his house in the nursery adjacent to Chilma Forest Range. The elephants crushed him, leading to his death on the spot. His family managed to save their lives by fleeing the scene. This incident occurred as a group of 35 elephants roamed the area, with eight elephants splitting from the herd.