Elephant tramples man to death in Balrampur dist

RAIPUR: A 35-year-old man was today trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in Chhattisgarh s Balrampur district.
The victim identified as Kishore Urao came face-to-face with the herd of jumbos at a field near his native village Gobindpur Pahadipara under Pasta police station limits in the small hours, a police official told PTI.Before he could run away he was trampled to death by one of the elephants of the herd, he said.
As per preliminary information, after spotting the elephants near their village, located around over 400 kms away from here, some villagers went to protect their crops, he said.Meanwhile, Kishore got trapped in the herd and a pachyderm smashed him with its truck before stomped on him, the official said adding that, however, other villagers at the spot tried to save him, but could not succeed.
Soon after getting the news of the incident, police personnel and forest officials were rushed to the spot.The kin of the deceased have been given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 by the forest officials, he said.A case has been registered in this connection, he added.The villagers have been advised not to venture close to forest and field as a herd of elephants has been roaming in the area from past a month.
The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Korea districts, are notorious for human-elephant conflict incidents. The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damages to houses and crops by rogue elephant in past years. Agencies