Balangir: In a tragic mishap, a forest personnel died while two others sustained injuries in an elephant attack at Kantabanji in Odisha's Balangir district. 

The incident took place near Bandhanpali village, which comes under the Dholamunda section of Kantabanji forest range. The deceased was identified as Rupesh Chhatria, an elephant tracker.

As per reports, a three-member forest department team including elephant tracker Rupesh Chhatria, forest worker Tareshwar Rana and para-squad member Prashant Nayak was attempting to drive away an elephant when the pachyderm suddenly attacked the trio.  The members had been reportedly tracking the jumbo's movement as it had strayed very close to human settlements. However, the operation took a tragic turn when the elephant suddenly charged at one of the vehicles and attacked the team. 

The three of them, critically injured, were immediately rescued and rushed to Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital for treatment but Chhatria succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night. 

Official sources said the Forest department was tracking the elephant’s movement for the past few weeks and a team had been formed in this connection. However, one of the vehicles suddenly halted during the tracking and the elephant attacked the team members leading to the mishap, they said.