Chhattisgarh: 50-year-old man was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants

A 50-year-old man was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants at a forest in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district, an official said on Tuesday.

The victim, identified as Dasrath, from Bojha village, came face-to-face with the elephants in the forest on Khadgawa -Songara road when he was returning from his son-in-law's house in Mayapur village on Monday, sub-divisional Officer (Pratappur forest circle) Prabhakar Khalko said.

While returning home, he stopped at the forest after seeing 'mahua' fruits there and started picking them up.

Suddenly, a herd of elephants appeared there and attacked him.

The pachyderms smashed the man on the ground with their trunks before trampling him to death, she said.

The forest and police personnel rushed to the spot on getting information and sent the body for postmortem, the official said.

The forest department has given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 to the kin of the deceased, she said.

There have been reports of a group of around 60 jumbos moving in the area since the last few days. Therefore, the villagers have been advised to remain alert while passing through the forest areas, she said.

On April 8, a 62-year-old farmer was killed in an elephant attack in Dharamjaigarh forest division in the state's Raigarh district.

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

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