Forest official injured during elephant rescue operation

Keonjhar: A rescue operation by forest department officials to rescue an elephant from a trench near Singipur village in Telkoi block of Keonjhar district went wrong after a senior official was critically injured today.

As per reports, a herd of 14 elephant strayed into the agricultural field in search of food when two elephants fell into the trench. Later, forest department and Bansapal fire services personnel rushed to the spot to rescue the elephants.

While one of the tuskers managed to walk out of the trench before the arrival of the rescue teams, it took three hours to rescue the other jumbo from the trench.

However, the elephant while rushing back to the forest (after being rescued), attacked a forest department official Tikayat Mohanty leaving him critically injured.

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"He (Tikayat) has some suffered some internal injuries. Besides, some other check-ups are going on at the hospital here. After the reports come, we will shift him to Cuttack if required," said Santosh Joshi, District Forest Officer, Keonjhar.