Baripada: Four persons including a five-year-old girl were killed in jumbo attacks in various parts Mayurbhanj district in the last 24 hours, reports said. In the first incident, a tusker stormed into Samaidihi village under Rasgobindpur forest range of Morada block and went on a destruction spree Wednesday night while most of the villagers were asleep.
The animal ransacked the house of Pitambhar Paramanik. While Pitambhar and the rest of his family members managed to escape, his five-year-old daughter was trampled to death by the pachyderm. In another incident, an elderly man identified as Dev Dehury was killed due to an elephant attack in Tadiki village under Bhaliadiha gram panchayat. The jumbo had strayed into the village and damaged the house of Dehury. A portion of the wall collapsed on him, leading to his death on the spot.
Similarly, another villager identified as Bhawani Shankar Mahant of Panishol village under Saraskana block was trampled to death by a tusker, informed Ranger Laxmidhar Behera. “A herd of 30 tuskers had strayed into the village late Wednesday night. Behera who was outside his house, came face-to-face with a tusker which lifted him using its trunk and dashed him to the ground.
He was rescued in a critical condition and admitted to Baripada-based PRM Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed while undergoing treatment,” the ranger said. Forest department officials reached the village and provided a compensation of Rs 10,000 to the bereaved family. In the fourth incident, a youth, identified as Nilakantha Sankhial, was killed while he had gone to drive away an elephant herd from a cashew orchard under Karanjia forest division.