A 65-year-old woman from Chhattisgarh’s Korba district became the fifth victim of a savage attack by a wild elephant which had trampled four persons to death in separate incidents in the area over the last month, officials said on Saturday.
In the latest incident that occurred near Baghmara village in the Balco forest range, the pachyderm also trampled two bulls to death, a forest officer said.
The tusker elephant attacked Bhalai Bai and her husband in their hut in an agricultural field near the village on Friday night when they were asleep, said Arvind PM, Divisional Forest Officer, Korba forest division.
Bhalai Bai’s husband survived as he managed to run away from the spot. The elephant also attacked and killed two bulls in the area, he said.
After being alerted about the incident, forest and police personnel rushed to the spot and sent the body for a postmortem.
The family of the killed woman was given financial assistance of Rs 25,000 and the rest of Rs 5.75 lakh will be paid later as per the procedure, the forest officer added.
Notably, the same tusker had trampled an elderly man to death on September 4 in the Katghora forest division in Korba district, and three women at separate places in the Katghora forest division on August 8.
Forest and police personnel have been keeping a tab on the movement of the pachyderm and engaged in chasing it away from human settlements, officials said.
Human-elephant conflicts in Chhattisgarh, particularly in the northern part of the state, have been a major cause of concern over the last decade. The menace has been spreading its footprint in some districts of the Central region in the past few years.
Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Gariaband, Balod, Balrampur and Kanker districts have witnessed the attack by elephants on humans.
According to the forest department, over 300 people were killed in elephant attacks in Chhattisgarh in the last five years.
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