TURA:
Excitement to see the presence of a wild herd of elephants in the vicinity of the paddy fields in his border village proved fatal for an elderly man who was chased and trampled to death by one of the pachyderms in the border area of Dalu in West Garo Hills district on Thursday.
The incident took place in Killapara area of the Indo-Bangla border after a herd of wild elephants crossed over from the neighboring country during the day.
A group of villagers went into the open fields to see the presence of these majestic beasts and 60 year old Ohindro Dalu of Killapara also followed them.
The herd, which consisted of three adults and two elephant calves, had reportedly been traumatized after being chased away by villagers from the Bangladesh side of the border. The presence of the two calves made the adults more protective and sensitive to human presence.
Seeing the villagers from the Killapara side gather around the paddy field where they were taking refuge, one of the adult pachyderms reacted and gave chase. It chased down Ohindro Dalu and attacked him, trampling him to death.
Police later retrieved the body from the paddy field.
This is the second elephant attack in the Garo Hills in less than one week. A few days back, a 21-year-old youth returning home to his village of Alokpang in Siju region of South Garo Hills was attacked and killed by another wild elephant on Monday night.
Wildlife officials have been urging people to stay away from areas where elephants are spotted and have also been urging people not to frighten the big beasts as it tends to create a violent reaction that leads to human casualties.