elephant
Two persons were killed in separate incidents of elephant attacks in the forests of northern Chhattisgarh, a forest official said on Tuesday. The victim Mohini Bai (55) was trampled to death by an elephant in Kunkuri forest range of Jashpur district on Tuesday morning, while Dharamsingh Rathiya (30), died in a similar attack under Dharamjaigarh forest division of Raigarh district on Monday night, the official said.

Mohini, a native of Dholchua village, had gone to gather mushrooms from a nearby forest when she was attacked by a pachyderm, he said.

In Raigarh, Rathiya, a native of Gersa village, had gone to answer nature's call on the outskirts of the village when a tusker trampled him to death, he said.

Local forest personnel rushed to the scene after being alerted about the deaths and sent the bodies for post-mortem, it was stated.

An instant relief of Rs 25,000 each has been given to the kin of the deceased and the remaining sum will be disbursed after completion of necessary formalities, the official added.

Several incidents of human-elephant conflict have been reported in the past from the thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Korea districts.

The region has witnessed several killings of villagers and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue elephants.

Comment: Rogue elephant kills 16 people over 2 months in Jharkhand, India