Jumbo herd tramples elderly couple to death in Cuttack; jumbo carcass spotted at Jobra 

In yet another incident of man-elephant conflict, an elderly couple was trampled to death by a herd of elephants at Nimapur village in Jagatpur area of Cuttack district in the wee hours of Wednesday. 

While the identities of the deceased couple are yet to be ascertained, it isn't clear as yet how they came face-to-face with the jumbo herd.
The incident has fueled anger among the local residents. They complained the forest department is hardly doing anything to drive away the herd. 

It is believed that the herd sneaked into Jagatpur area via Choudwar. 

As per a report, the herd had been on a rampage since last night, damaging a number of vehicles and houses.  

At the time of filing this report, while the pachyderm herd was still on the rampage, forest department employees and police are on the job of driving away the herd. 

At the same time, a carcass of an elephant was spotted at gate no-20 of Jobra barrage. It is suspected that the elephant might have got washed away while crossing the river and got stuck at the gate, leading to its death. 

Notably, according to the statement made by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav in Parliament during the last session, as many as 1,578 people died in elephant attacks in India between 2019-20 and 2021-22. Odisha reported the highest 322 such deaths.

(Reporter: Prakash Nayak, OTV)