Man trampled to death by herd of elephants in Chhattisgarh

Raigarh: A 40-year-old man was today trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in Gharghoda forest range of Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district.

The victim, identified as Nirbandhu Rathiya, came face-to-face with the herd of 10-12 jumbos early this morning near his native Nawapara village under Raigarh forest division when he had gone to pick wood in the forest, Division Forest Officer (DFO) RK Pandey said.

On spotting the elephants, Rathiya tried to escape from the spot but the pachyderms surrounded him and smashed him with their trunks before stomping on him, he said.
Soon after receiving news of the incident, police personnel and forest officials rushed to the spot.

The kin of the deceased have been given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000, the DFO said.

Notably, as many as six villagers were killed in separate cases of human-elephant conflict last month in the neighbouring Korba district alone.

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

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue elephants in the past few years.