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Elephant breaking a branch after a charge.
Two people were killed in separate elephant attacks on Thursday. A tribal man was trampled to death by a wild elephant near Pasumani Pudur, a village near Palamalai in Coimbatore district on Thursday. He was heading towards his village on foot along with his friend through the reserve forest area when the elephant attacked him. Meanwhile, in Krishnagiri, a tusker trampled a 47-year-old woman when she went to attend nature's call early Thursday morning.

In the first incident, K Pallikoodathan alias Nanjan, 65, a daily wage worker and his friend P Ramasamy, 66, had gone to Kannimar temple located at Tholampalayam near Karamadai on foot on Wednesday evening. They offered their prayers to the goddess and stayed on the temple campus for the night.

On Thursday morning, the duo was heading towards their village by walk through reserve forest area. When they were near Pasumani Pudur, the duo had noticed two wild elephants. A tusker started to chase the duo.

Ramasamy managed to escape, but Nanjan was not so lucky. He sustained severe injuries on his entire body. Meanwhile, Ramasamy notified the villagers who rushed to Nanjan's rescue. They managed to chase the animal away and took the victim to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) where doctors declared him as brought dead.

The tribal villagers used the path inside the reserve forest area from Pasumani Pudur to Tholampalayam. They have bus facilities from Palamalai to Perianaickenpalayam. Later, they can use the bus service to reach Tholampalayam via Karamadai.

Although there is bus service to get to the temple in Tholampalayam, residents of Pasumani Pudur have to change three buses to get there. Thus they prefer to do the 4km walk through reserve forest area to reach the temple within one hour," said M Nazir, forest range officer, Perianaickenpalayam forest range. They have been warned against entering the reserve forest area, he added.

In the second incident, a 47-year-old woman R Saraswathi from Jeenur in Krishnagiri district was trampled to death early Thursday morning.

Forest department officials said that Saraswathi and her husband Rajendran, a daily wage labourer had gone to the forest area near Melumalai reserve forest to attend nature's call early Thursday morning. They did not notice an elephant herd in the bushes.

A tusker began to chase the couple. Saraswathi was trampled to death by the elephant. Her husband Rajendran managed to escape. He informed the locals who rushed to the spot and took her to the local government hospital where doctors declared her as brought dead.

Source: TNN