COIMBATORE/NILGIRIS: A 59-year-old postman who was out on duty was killed in a wild elephant attack at Vilamarathur near Mettupalayam on Thursday morning. The tragic incident occurred as he was heading to deliver post to the tribal people at Kilthengalur.
The deceased, O Subbaiyan, was a resident of National Model School Road in Sirumugai. He was a postman of the Nellithurai post office.
Subbaiyan usually reaches Kilthengalur and delivers post by foot after a one-hour trek from Vilamrathur along the Bhavani River.
His death came to light after tribal people in Kilthengalur alerted the staff of the Mettupalayam forest range that Subbaiyan had not yet arrived until 12pm. Based on their information, a forest department team along with a few tribal people trailed the stretch Subbaiyan used to take and found his body.
"The attack by the elephant could have occurred before 10 am. Since no one has seen it, we have come to this conclusion after observing the elephant's footprint," said a forest department staff.
"The elephant could have pushed him down. He received injuries in the head after hitting huge stones on the ground and died," he surmised.
Subbaiyan's body was taken in a 'doli' with the help of tribal people for 500 metres and then shifted to the Mettupalayam government hospital in an ambulance for postmortem.
Postmortem will be performed on Friday.
The forest department will be issuing compensation to the kin of Subbaiyan.
Aside, a pair of tusks attached to the decomposed elephant carcass was found by the staff of the Singara forest range in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve on Thursday morning during a patrol.
"We are not aware of the cause of the animal's death and it could have died three months ago since the major portion of the carcass was consumed by carnivores. Its age could be 25 years," said a forest department staff.