The two men were flung into air by the elephant and died on the spot. (Representational)
Two elderly men were killed in an attack by a female elephant in West Bengal's Jhargram district on Wednesday, following the death of the pachyderm's calf, a forest official said.
The animal also ransacked a bus and a motorcycle besides damaging several houses near the popular Rameshwar temple in the Chandabila forest range in Nayagram.
Condoling the death of two persons, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the two 60-year-old men and said the government will repair the damaged houses.
The elephant attacked a group of people who went there to see the carcass of the calf and flung the two men to the ground killing them, the official said.
Thoe who died were identified as Ananta Jana (60), a resident of Deulbar village under the Nayagram Police Station limits, and Shashadhar Mahata (60), hailing from neighbouring Biribaria.
"Some people went to see the carcass of the elephant calf in the Chandabila forest range, and the elephant attacked them. Most of them managed to flee except the two elderly men. The elephant flung them to the ground and they died on the spot," Kharagpur DFO Shivananda Ram said.
The chief minister said it was sad that the mother elephant guarding the dead calf became violent and killed two persons and damaged several houses.
"I announce compensation @ Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased and promise house repairs of the affected," Mamata Banerjee said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Forest Minister Jyotipriya Mallick told PTI that the staff of the department were able to drive away the mother elephant from the spot.
This is the first time in several months that an incident of elephant attack is reported from Jhargram and nearby districts, he said.
A 40-member forest personnel team was deployed there to monitor the situation.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)