Elephants trample three to death in S’garh

ROURKELA: Three persons, including a couple, were trampled to death by wild elephants in two separate incidents in Sundargarh district on Saturday night, official sources said.

The couple was identified as William and Phulmani Ekka of Jharmunda village under Ujjwalpur forest range in the district. On Saturday night, a tusker crushed the couple when they were fast asleep in their house, they said. Earlier on December 25, the elephant which killed the two had also crushed to death another person of the same village.

In the second incident, one Ramprakash Rout of Sanparsara village near Kacharu was trampled to death by another herd of pachyderms last night, sources said. A few days back, two persons escaped from wild elephants near Kacharu jungle, when the animal damaged their bike.

The elephants also damaged the houses of some villagers after crushing the couple. Meanwhile, the forest personnel have decided to camp in the village to keep eye on the movement of the wild pachyderms in that area, Ranger, Ujjwalpur Forest Range, Pradeep Pujari.   

It may be noted that a total of nine persons including a forest personnel have been killed due to jumbo attacks this year.