In a heart-wrenching incident, two children were trampled to death by elephants in front of their parents in Jharsuguda on Thursday.
As per reports, two elephants trampled the two children in presence of their parents in Bhaunra in Bagdihi area of Jharsuguda district on Thursday night.
When mother of the duo went to rescue them from the tuskers’ clutches, the wild animals attacked her fracturing her hands. The deceased’s father also sustained injuries in the process of saving his family.
Both of them were rescued by local residents and admitted to Jharsuguda District Headquarters Hospital.
It is learnt that the couple and their deceased kids belonged to Chhattisgarh.
District Forest Officer of Jharsuguda Lalit Patra said “Two elephants had strayed into Jharsuguda-Sundargarh border area last night. A brick kiln worker along with his family had camped in the border area. Elephants trampled his children to death. Their parents were injured in the man-animal battle.”
“Our team led by a departmental senior officer took the injured to the hospital soon after the incident happened. For elephant monitoring, squads and forest officials have been alerted," said the DFO.
In an another incident, a forest guard identified as Sarat Ghadei of Banarpal died after being attacked by an elephant.
Sarat was posted in Angul Forest Division. He was dispersing the animal when the elephant attacked him and killed him on the spot.
Senior officials of Forest department recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem to Angul District Headquarters Hospital.
Meanwhile, the deceased’s villagers staged a protest demanding Rs 20 lakh compensation for his family members.
Odisha has registered a rise in the number of elephant attack cases.
Union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Bhupender Yadav had made a statement in Parliament during its last session in this regard. He had revealed that 117 persons were killed in elephant attacks in 2019-20 while 93 such deaths were reported during 2020-21 and another 112 deaths in 2021-22.