A tribal woman and her three-month old baby were trampled to death by a group of wild elephants in Kapu rage of Raigarh district, forest officials said here on Thursday.
With this incident, nine people were killed in past three months in man-elephant conflict in Raigarh alone. The deceased include five women, mostly from financially weaker section.
“The incident happened on Wednesday night when a group of 14 elephants attacked the house of Mansingh Sidar at Surpara village near Vijay Nagar town,” Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dharamjaigarh Pranay Mishra said.
While other family members managed to run away, Mansingh’s wife Vimla (28), who was carrying her infant daughter Khusbu was caught by the heard that killed both, the DFO informed.
Soon after the incident forest department officials reached the spot and the bodies were sent for post-mortem. The family members of the deceased were provided immediate assistance of Rs 50,000.
Notably, according to forest minister currently there are about 220 wild elephants roaming in different forest of Chhattisgarh.
The forest ranges, particularly in northern Chhattisgarh, have seen bitter human-wild elephant conflict for past three four decades. According to forest officials between 2013 and 2019, 309 people have lost their lives in the conflict.
