Khurda: Two persons were trampled to death by an elephant while watching over their crops at Jaritapur under Tangi block of Odisha’s Khurda district late on Sunday.
The deceased have been identified as Krushna Chandra Pradhan and Laxmidhar Behera.
According to sources, the duo were at their farm last night to guard their ready-to-harvest crops amid the cyclone warning when they spotted the rummaging elephant and tried to shoo it away. But the elephant turned around and crushed them under its feet.
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Following the incident, tension ran high in the locality as people demanded compensation for the bereaved families. “Farming is the only source of income of these villagers. The elephants regularly destroy our crops. It becomes really dangerous when we try to shoo them away. I request the forest department to keep the elephants away from our farmlands,” sarpanch of Ramachandrapur panchayat, Madhusudan Palai told the media.
Forest officials from Tangi division have reached the place and launched an investigation.
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