COIMBATORE: Another man was injured in a wild elephant attack at Sirumugai forest range on Saturday night. This is the third such incident to occur on Saturday.
The injured was identified as P Nagaiyan (35), a security guard. The incident occurred at 11.30 pm when he was guarding the plantation land at Mokkamedu in Pethikuttai Pirivu. The male elephant pushed him and went back into the forest. Locals, who heard his screams, rescued the man and took him to a private hospital in Mettupalayam.
"Our staff visited the hospital and enquired about his condition with the doctors. He has to undergo surgery for the injury to his jaw and he will have to be on rest for a few weeks as his right hand was fractured," said a forest official.
This is the third such incident within a day and the increasing incident has created panic movements for those who are living in forest boundaries.
On Saturday morning, P Arumugam (75) of Vanjiamman Nagar near Thondamuthur was killed after an elephant attacked him while he was standing in front of his house. Later the same elephant injured two youths K Arusamy (19) and K Muthu (18) in the same locality.
Human deaths and injuries due to elephant attacks are on the rise in Coimbatore. Despite the formation on November 25 of three special night patrolling teams to chase the elephants back into forest, the incidents are continuing as evidenced by a forest department report.
According to the report, there has been a rise in incidents of wild elephants straying out of the forest areas in Coimbatore division.
"In the first 12 days of November, individual male elephants and herds of wild elephants came out of forest areas in seven forest ranges in Coimbatore forest division 96 times, probably to search for food and water. However, in the first 12 days of December, this figure rose to 123,” a forest department report revealed.