Elephant attack leaves 2 people dead in Chhattisgarh's Surguja

Two persons were Tuesday killed by an elephant in separate incidents in Chhattisgarh's Surguja division, taking the death toll in such attacks in the region to six in five days, an official said. In the first incident, a teenage girl identified as Ahilya Bai (19), was killed at a brick kiln in Parsa village under Udaipur forest range, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Surguja Division Priyanka Pandey said. The wild elephant, who is believed to have come to the area from neighbouring Surajpur district, later killed a man identified as Bandhan Singh (60) in the same village, she said.

The kin of the deceased persons have been provided immediate relief of Rs 25,000 and a forest team was at the spot for further probe, she informed. The elephant was chased away by villagers and the forest team was monitoring its movement, she added. On January 6, two persons, including a woman, were killed in attacks by a wild tusker in Devnagar village of Surguja district while earlier, on January 4, two others were killed at separate places near Surajpur district headquarter. Surguja division comprises five districts namely Surguja, Jashpur, Koriya, Balrampur and Surajpur.

(With inputs from agencies.)