COIMBATORE: A woman and her child had a narrow escape when three elephants damaged a temporary house in a construction site at Kathirnaickenpalayam near NSN Palayam in the early hours on Tuesday in search of food and water.
According to sources, a herd of three elephants entered the residential area where construction was in progress and damaged a galvanised sheet house in which a migrant family was staying. As soon as one elephant started damaging the front portion of the room, the man ran out to the safety of a house nearby by opening the door. When the woman who was holding her child tried to escape, another elephant tried to chase them. But they escaped.
Sources in Coimbatore forest range said they managed to chase the elephants back into nearby forest using sirens and headlight of their vehicles. “We instructed the site engineer to shift the construction workers to the strong buildings.
We managed to chase the animals inside the forest in a five hour operation around 5am,” said the official Meanwhile, forest officials said no wild animal movement was recorded in the camera traps fixed at Kuniyamuthur on Monday.