Dhamtari: Two more persons including an 11-year-old girl were killed in separate elephant attack in Dhamtari district on Monday, a day after three persons were trampled to death in the same district. The girl came under attack close to her hut and the tusker also destroyed several houses. Alert was sounded in eight villages in the vicinity. The minor girl of the Tumbahra region had gone to collect mahua with her father when she came under attack.
Simran Sahu was scheduled to go to school after the collection but she was rounded up by a herd of elephants that chased her down till she fell with a jerk. She was trampled to death. In the fifth death in human-animal-conflict within two days in Dhamtari district, another woman of Chargaon village who was out in the forest to collect firewood came under tucker attack. She was rolled in the trunk and crushed by the elephant.
A herd of aggressive elephants has migrated from neighbouring forests of Odisha and has gone on a rampage by attacking people, chasing them, and damaging crops and houses. While officers of the forest department have sounded alert in eight villages, the locals are furious over back to back deaths of their people. Earlier on Saturday, two women and a man were killed in separate incidents of elephant attacks in forest areas under the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve.
According to information, a herd of 30 elephants with two of them separated from the herd has created a rampage. The kin of the deceased was given Rs 25,000 as immediate relief and the rest of the compensation amount would be given after other formalities.