BHAWANIPATNA; The escalating human-wildlife conflict in Kalahandi district continued to claim lives as an elderly couple was trampled to death in their sleep by an elephant herd at Kadomali village of Lakhbaheli panchayat under Biswanathpur range in Bhawanipatna south forest division on Saturday night.
The deceased were identified as 70-year-old Magun Majhi and his wife Gada Majhi (65).
Sources said the couple was sleeping in their mud-walled house along with other family members when a herd of elephants entered the village. The elephants attacked Magun’s house causing the walls to collapse. After trampling the couple to death, the herd went away. Locals said Magun’s son and three brothers, who were also sleeping inside the house, miraculously escaped. Magun and his family members were engaged in shifting cultivation in areas near the forest.
On being informed about the incident, local forest staff and police reached Kadomali. Assistant conservator of forests ( ACF) Narotam Majhi along with the IIC of Bijepur police station and a doctor from Biswanathpur community health centre visited the village to take stock of the situation. ACF Majhi said villages located on the fringes of Narla and Biswanathpur forest ranges are often raided by wild elephant herds. Forest staff regularly take steps to drive elephants away from human habitations. “An investigation has been launched into the incident. The family of the deceased couple will be provided compensation as per government norms,” he added.
Sources said in the past, many people including a forest ranger of Narla have been killed in elephant attacks in the district. In December 2023, forest staff led by Narla ranger Prasanta Pala was chasing an elephant herd away from a cropland near Ampada when they were attacked by the jumbos. Prasanta suffered critical injuries after being reportedly trampled by a tusker. He later succumbed in the hospital.
