Odapada/Rasol: A two-month-old elephant calf died after falling into a pit near a railway track in Odapada village under Sadar forest range while a woman was trampled to death at Matia Sahi village under Rasol block in Dhenkanal district, forest officials said Thursday.
On being informed, forest officials rushed to the spot and recovered the carcass of the jumbo calf Thursday morning.
Preliminary inquiries and circumstantial evidences indicated that the calf was part of a jumbo herd which was crossing the area Wednesday night. The calf while crossing the area with its mother fell into the pit.
The jumbo herd might have tried to pull out the calf from the pit by holding its tusk which got severed in the process, officials said.
The herd members would have even tried to fill the pit with soil to bring out the calf but the latter was crushed to death in the melle. A post-mortem was conducted on the carcass before burying it at the spot. Locals suspect that the calf might have died after being run over by a goods train.
In the second incident, a woman was trampled to death while her husband was rendered critical after being attacked by a stray elephant at Matia Sahi village under Hindol forest limits in the late Wednesday night. The deceased woman was identified as Sajani Pradhan while her injured husband is Bharat Pradhan, 70. The incident has sparked panic among the 35 families living in the village.
The husband and wife were sleeping in their hut, as the elephant rushed in. The hut was completely destroyed.
The wife, Sajani, was crushed to death on the spot. Villagers rescued and rushed them to the district headquarters hospital where doctors pronounced the woman dead and shifted her husband to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for treatment.
The forest officials reached the village and tried to shoo away the elephant.