Wild elephant strays into school campus, triggers panic

A wild elephant broke into a residential school by breaking open its front gate and

damaging a portion of a wall, spreading panic among students, police said on Thursday.

However, the strange visitor was driven away by the beating of the drums and setting fire to a bundle of hay, they

said. The incident happened on late Wednesday night.

Panic gripped the government residential school for tribals in Mavanalla near Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Nilgiris

district, following the incident, the police said. The school has 15 boys and 12 girls as inmates with a

senior teacher supervising it. As the elephant entered the campus, the teacher alerted

neighbours and the police. Then the members of the public and policemen drove the

intruder away by setting fire to hay and beating of the drums. To prevent the children and the teacher from a possible

attack, the authorities decided to shift them to a safer place for a couple of days, the police said.

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