A 60-year-old woman was killed after being trampled by an elephant
when she went to collect fire wood in Punnapani Jungle at Lalgarh in
West Midnapore.
The woman, Luli Sabar, went to the jungle on Thursday evening. On
Friday morning, local people found her body in the jungle. They
informed the police and the body was sent for an autopsy.
Local people claimed that for the past few days, a herd of 20
elephants were running amok in Rangamati, Karomsole, Tarki and Padhi
villages in the area. It had led to a huge loss of crops.
Police suspect after preliminary investigation that the elderly victim
failed to run when she came face to face with the herd and got
trampled by an elephant.
The police informed the matter to the officials of the state Forest department.
According to an official of the Forest department, steps have already
been taken to send the elephants back to the jungles. It would take
some more days to send all the 20 to 22 elephants back inside the
jungle.
Forest department officials asked the local people to stay vigilant
till all the elephants are sent back inside the jungle.
The people have been asked to avoid going inside the jungles and if
needed they should go in a group.
It may be recalled that a few weeks ago, an elephant had killed a man
at Garbeta in West Midnapore. The incident took place when the victim
Tira Murmu,a resident of Golakdamai village, was working in his
agricultural field.
The elephant had attacked him when he tried to send the animal out of
his field. The elephant had damaged crops in the entire field.
Forest department officers were sent to tranquilise the elephant and
the direction for the animal’s treatment was also given as it had
received severe injuries on one leg.
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