THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A temple elephant killed its mahout by throwing him to the ground at Parassala here on Thursday. The victim, Murukan alias Jayan, 35, of Perumbazhuthoor in Neyyattinkara, was the third mahout of Chandrasekharan, the elephant of the Parassala Sree Mahadeva Temple.
According to the police, the incident occurred around 10.30 am when the elephant was being taken to Mundaplavila, two km away from the temple, to feed it palm leaves.
The two helpers who accompanied the mahout had a narrow escape. One of them, Kannan, who was sitting atop the tusker climbed on a coconut tree while the other ran away.