Wild elephant kills 4 more people in Bhagalpur, India

Wild (bloody livid?) elephant

    

Four more persons, including two women, a man and a teenager, were trampled and killed by a wild elephant running amok on Saturday morning at Sabour-Goradih area in Bhagalpur district. The elephant killed two persons on Thursday. A few others were also injured while running away from the tusker.

The four deceased were identified as 70-year old Makri Devi (Rajpur village), 15-year-old Mohd Ehshan (Banshi Tekar village), 80-year-old Parsadi Tanti (Jhurkhuria village) and 75-year-old Shrista Devi (Fatehpur village). The place where the incidents occurred on Saturday is 5-8km away from Bhagalpur city.

Several houses were also destroyed in fresh attack on the houses of villagers despite the forest department officials and employees sweating out to either capture or facilitate the escape of the tusker towards adjoining Godda district in Jharkhand via Sanhaula block in Bhagalpur district.

The wild tusker killed 65-year-old Aarti Devi of Dayalpur village and 60-year-old Prithvi Yadav of nearby Taufik village on Thursday night.

Several houses besides standing crops were also destroyed by the tusker before it vanished into darkness.

Most of the panic-stricken villagers remain in groups and fear to venture out in agriculture fields even during the daytime.

Sources said the villagers of the area have demanded security from the forest department and the district administration.

Sources said as the atmospheric temperature level has shot up for more than a fortnight, the tusker might have strayed to human habitat looking for water and food. People, however, believe the elephant has gone mad.

Conservator of forests Sanjay Kumar Singh said forest department personnel are trying their best to safeguard people and capture the wild elephant. Bhagalpur SSP Vivek Kumar said the elephant has been spotted retreating towards Amdanda village under Sanhaula block in Bhagalpur district.

Godda forest area in Jharkhand is only 12 to 14km from Amdanda village, the SSP said and added police are making efforts to save innocent people and also cooperating with the forest department to ensure the wild elephant retreats to its natural habitat. Bhagalpur DM Birendra Prasad Yadav said he has directed the forest department to make every effort to save the lives of people.