Two persons lost their lives after a wild elephant reportedly trampled them to death at Jaritapur under Khordha’s Tangi block late Sunday night.
The deceased have been identified as Krushna chnadra Pradhan and Laxmidhar Behera.
As per reports, the deceased had gone to their farmland to watch over their crop which is ready to be harvested. Later when they found the elephant destroying their crop, they tried to shoo the jumbo away. But it trampled them to death.
A pal of gloom and a palpable tension prevailed in the village after the incident. The villagers demanded adequate compensation to the families of the deceased.
They also demanded the forest department to keep the elephants away from their crops, which has proven to be a tough task for the department so far.
Sarpanch of Ramachandrapur panchayat, Madhusudan Palai said, “Farming is the only source of income of these villagers. And the elephants regularly destroy our crops. It becomes really dangerous when we try to shoo them away. I request the forest department to keep the elephants away from our farmlands.”
Till the last report came in, forest officials from Tangi division were on the spot and launched a probe.