ROURKELA: A herd of 15 elephants killed two persons on Sunday evening at two nearby border villages in Odisha and Jharkhand.
Rourkela-based Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) JK Mohanty informed that the herd entered Birmitrapur range of Rourkela forest division from Jharkhand. About 20 metres from Jharkhand border into Birmitrapur range, the herd trampled a youth Binod Singh (25) to death at forest area of Simontoli under Hathibari police limits in Sundargarh district. Later, the herd damaged two mud houses at Simontoli and moved to Jharkhand side.
Quoting Jharkhand forest officials, the ACF said before killing the youth, the herd had killed an elderly woman at Dongapani village in Jharkhand. Singh’s body was brought to his village and autopsy would be conducted by Hathibari police on Tuesday.
With this, the total number of human casualties in elephant attack rose to eight this year in areas under Rourkela forest division.