Elephant tramples forest guard to death in Odisha

Rourkela: A forest official was trampled to death by a wild elephant here on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Pati Dheer.

The incident occurred at Gudachhapal village near Kuanrmunda range of Rourkela Forest Division where Pati along with other forest staff was trying to drive away a herd of elephant that strayed into the village yesterday.

While four elephants went away leaving the village, one elephant remained there. As the night advanced, the forest officials were unaware of the presence of one elephant in the village. Taking advantage of the situation, the wild elephant trampled Pati into death.

Sources said that the five elephants have killed at least 12 persons in the past three years in Kacharu area, around 5 km away from Kuanrmunda.

Last month, three people were killed in the elephant attack in the area.