ANGUL: A 36-year-old woman and her minor daughter were reportedly trampled to death by a tusker near Madhupur village under Bantala range here in the wee hours of Friday.
The deceased were identified as Pankajini Pradhan and her eight-year-old daughter Puspa. Pankajini’s husband Katia Dehuri (40), who was accompany them, managed to escape the attack.
Bantala range officer P Sahu said the incident took place at around 1 am. Katia along with his wife and daughter had come to Madhupur to watch ‘Danda Nacha’ on Thursday. The trio was returning home late in the night when they came face-to-face with a tusker. While the mother-daughter duo was trampled to death, Katia managed to run away from the spot and save his life.
Sahu said on being informed, the local forest staff rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. On Friday morning, police arrived at the scene and sent the bodies to the local hospital for postmortem.
“The Forest department had warned residents of Madhupur and nearby villages to remain indoors after sunset and in the morning hours due to the presence of an elephant herd in the nearby forest. However, Katia and his family members did not heed the warning and were attacked by the tusker,” Sahu added.