Human-animal conflict: Elephant tramples man to death in Rourkela

Rourkela: A man was trampled to death by an elephant at Kultuli basti of Jharbeda village under Kuanrmunda range here on Friday. The deceased has been identified as Naveen Kerketta.

According to reports, Kerketta was sleeping in his house when a wild jumbo strayed into the basti and damaged his house and crushed him to death.

In a separate incident, a 5-year-old under-treatment elephant died at Badarama forest range under Bamara Forest Division in Sambalpur. The jumbo was rescued three days ago in a critical condition from Bhutel reserve forest.

Officials of the forest department said the pachyderm had sustained severe injuries in the head and suspected it to be a case of poaching bid.

Earlier on Thursday, jumbo scare had gripped Bisra and Biramitrapur forest ranges under Rourkela. An elephant trampled a man at Katepur village while a herd of 12 elephants strayed into human settlement in Raebaga area and damaged as many as six houses and caused widespread crop damage in the region.