ROURKELA/SAMBALPUR: Three persons were killed in separate elephant attacks in Sundargarh and Deogarh districts on Thursday, a pointer to the escalating human-elephant conflict in the state.
Two persons were killed in the Koida range of Bonai forest division and Ujjalpur range of Sundargarh division in the past 24 hours, both incidents occurring 110 to 120 km from Rourkela.
Assistant conservator of forest (ACF) of Bonai Duryodhan Jarei confirmed death of Sibram Badaik (48) at Sanindpur village of Koida range. Badaik, a labourer, was living in a temporary shed. In the wee-hours of the day, he sensed the presence of an elephant and started running in panic only to encounter a single tusker which trampled him to death.
The tusker was radio-collared and its movement was announced in the locality but the incident still occurred. Koida police registered an unnatural death case and preserved the body for autopsy.
In the other incident, a 65-year-old Rushav Routia was killed inside a forest under Ujjalpur range of Sundargarh on Wednesday.
Sundargarh ACF Raj Sethi said the victim belonged to Beheradihi village and had gone to the forest to rear his livestock. When he did not return by late afternoon, family members alerted the local forest authorities. A forest team accompanied by villagers went in to find the trampled body of the victim around 5 pm. He confirmed the old man died in elephant attack and the body was handed over to the police.
In Deogarh, a 60-year-old man was trampled to death. The deceased was identified as Kulha Nayak of Koradapashi village under Reamal range. Nayak had gone to a nearby forest when he was reportedly attacked by the elephant. He died on the spot.
Forest range officer Niranjan Dharua, forester Manmath Behera and Kundeigola IIC John Kujur along with other staff rushed to the spot. The body was recovered and sent to Chandipada community health centre for postmortem.
Locals claimed a herd of elephants was causing widespread damage in the area over the past several days, leading to panic. Forest officials said compensation would be provided to the bereaved family after completion of necessary formalities.