Elephants Trample 58-Year-Old Man To Death In Chhattisgarh's Korba

A 58-year-old mentally challenged man was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in Chhattisgarh's Korba district in the early hours of Thursday, a forest official said.

The incident took place at around 12.30 am in a forest near Rampur village under Kartala forest range, he said.

After being alerted, forest personnel reached the spot where the village sarpanch told them that the victim was mentally unstable and lived at the village bus stand for the last few months, he said.

The man encountered a herd of elephants when he was roaming around the area at night and the jumbos trampled him to death, the official said.

A herd of 17 wild elephants has been roaming in the Rampur village and the nearby forest for the last 15 days, he said.

Residents of Rampur, Chainpur, Binjkot, Nodarha, Botli, Navapara and other nearby villages have been alerted about the presence of the animals in the area, the official added.

Human-elephant conflicts have become a cause for concern in Chhattisgarh in the last decade, especially in the northern parts. The most affected districts are Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Balrampur and Jashpur.

According to forest officials, around 320 persons have died in elephant attacks in the state in the last five years.

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