Elderly woman trampled to death by herd of elephants in Chhattisgarh

Korba, May 30: A 60-year-old woman was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in the forests of Chhattisgarh's Korba district, taking the toll of such attacks to 5 in the region this month.

The victim, Samudribai Rathiya came in front of the herd of jumbos this morning near her native village Charmar, under Kartala forest range, when she had gone to collect 'dori' (Mahua fruit), a forest official said.

On spotting the elephants, Rathiya tried to escape but pachyderms surrounded her and trampled her to death, he said.

After the incident, police personnel and forest officials were rushed to the spot. An aid of Rs 25,000 was given to her kin, the official said, adding a compensation amount of Rs 3.75 lakh will also be provided after completing all necessary formalities.

The official further informed that a herd of elephants has entered into Korba forest division from Raigarh side, following which forest staff has been directed to keep an eye on their movement in order to avoid human-elephant conflicts.

In separate incidents, four persons, including a woman, were killed by elephants in Kudmura forest range of Korba this month.

The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, are notorious for human-elephant conflict incidents.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damages to houses and crops by rogue elephant in past years.

PTI