Chhattisgarh: Girl, woman killed in elephant attacks; 5 deaths in past 3 days in Dhamtari

An 11-year-old girl and a woman were killed in two elephant attacks in Chhattisgarh's Dhamtari district on Monday, taking the number of deaths in this manner to five in the past three days, officials said.

On Monday morning, a girl identified as Simran Sahu was trampled to death when she had gone to Tumbahra forest under Nagari range along with her father to collect 'mahua', an official said.

The second incident took place during the day in Sambalpur village, he added.

''A woman was killed by an elephant in Chargaon forest under Nagari range while collecting mahua flowers,'' he said.

Villagers have been alerted about the presence of elephants in the vicinity and have been told not to go to the forest to collect wood or mahua, said Deputy Director of Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve Arun Jain.

Efforts are on to chase these pachyderms away from villages, he added.

Three persons were killed by elephants in Dhamtari on Saturday. Such incidents have mostly occurred in Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Gariaband, Balod, Balrampur and Kanker districts. As per the forest department, 204 people were killed in elephant attacks while 45 jumbos died in Chhattisgarh in the last three years.