BERHAMPUR: Two persons including a woman were trampled to death by a wild tusker in Digapahandi area of Ganjam district on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Urmila Rout (49) and Gopinath Pradhan (60), both of Jalameripalli village under Phasiguda panchayat in Digapahandi block.
The incident took place at around 6 am. Urmila and Gopinath were busy working in their respective vegetable fields when the tusker entered the farmlands from the nearby Ghodahada river bank.
On spotting the elephant, Urmila raised an alarm and tried to flee the spot. However, she stumbled and fell down, and was trampled to death. On hearing her screams, Gopinath rushed to the scene but he too was attacked by the elephant and trampled.
After the elephant left the area, other farmers present in nearby fields rushed Urmila and Gopinath to Digapahandi community health centre. However, the duo was declared brought dead.
On receiving information, Forest ranger of Chandragiri in neighbouring Gajapati district Rupak Kumar Pradhan along with a team reached the spot to take stock of the situation. Digapahandi police registered two separate cases and sent the bodies to MKCG Medical College and Hospital (MCH) at Berhampur for autopsy.
Sources said the tusker got separated from its herd and came out of Lakhari elephant sanctuary in Gajapati a month ago. After entering Ganjam through Jhatikabata forest, the elephant has been frequenting Bhismagiri, Chasanimkhandi, Sahadev Tikarpada, Nimkhandi Pentha and other areas of Ganjam.
Last month, the forest staff of Chandragiri range had chased the tusker back into the forest with the help of trained elephant trackers. It is suspected that the tusker came out of the forest again and killed the two persons. Forest staff are tracking the movement of the tusker, said Digapahandi ranger Divya Ranjan Sahu.
Meanwhile, family members of Urmila donated her eyes on the day. During the postmortem examination, both her eyes were successfully removed and stored at the eye bank in Ophthalmology department of MKCGMCH.