Woman killed in elephant attack in Chhattisgarh

Korba: A 52-year-old woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant in a forest in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district, an official said on Tuesday.

The jumbo attacked the woman, identified as Indarmania, on Monday evening near Karanjwar Sarhari village under Pratappur forest circle where she had gone along with two other women to collect wood, sub-divisional officer (forest) of Pratappur Ashutosh Bhagat said.

While the two other women managed to escape, the elephant caught hold of Indarmania and trampled her to death, he said.

After being alerted, forest personnel rushed to the spot and shifted the body to a hospital for postmortem, the official said.

The victim's maternal home is in Sarhari where she had come for a visit, he



said.

An immediate aid of Rs 25,000 has been provided to the kin of the deceased, the official said, adding that the remaining compensation of Rs 5.75 lakh will be given after the completion of necessary formalities.

Human-elephant conflicts in northern part of Chhattisgarh have been a major cause of concern for the past one decade, with the menace spreading its footprint further in some districts of the central region over the last few years.

The state's Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari and Gariaband districts have been mainly facing the menace.

According to forest department officials, over 200 people were killed in elephant attacks in the state in last three years.