Rourkela: A woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant Thursday evening under Koira forest range in Sundargarh district. The deceased woman has been identified as Mangri Munda, 58, of Baliadihi village under Patamunda panchayat. The incident occurred when the elephant was leaving after drinking water from a nearby stream. Meanwhile, when the elephant saw a small crowd at a distance, it charged towards it. While others managed to escape, Mangri failed to do so. The pachyderm picked her up with its trunk and then banged her on the ground.
Finally, it trampled her to death. Following the death of the woman, tension was palpable at the spot as locals did not allow the body to be taken away for postmortem. Following the assurance of compensation by Forest department officials and police, the body was sent for post-mortem to the Koira PHC. Including this casualty, as many as seven persons have been killed in the last eight months in the area. There is a lone elephant which is on a rampage in the area under Bonai forest division. Its temper flares up when it sees human beings, locals say.
Meanwhile, one bull elephant, probably the same one which killed the woman Thursday, Friday entered the zero point near Tensa hill station. It first entered the Tensa Eco Park from the Bahamba jungle area and then exited through zero point. Attempts to speak to Bonai DFO failed as his mobile was found switched off. SDPO Bonai Swaraj Debta said, “There was no such tension at the spot yesterday. The villagers were angry, which was natural but after discussion, their anger subsided. Then they let the body be taken for post mortem.”