Bargarh: A lone tusker crushed two persons to death in separate incidents in Odisha’s Bargarh district on Sunday.
The deceased have been identified as Siblal Suna of Kathaumal village in Gaisalet area and Balaram Sahoo of Deshbhatli area.
Siblal (55) became a victim while answering nature’s call. A daily wager, he was engaged in a canal construction work at Jharpali area of the district. The same tusker attacked Balaram (25) while harvesting rice crop near his village after he failed to see it due to dense fog.
The wild tusker has strayed into the area crossing Mahanadi, forest officials told IANS.
Earlier this month, a tusker had trampled two persons to death in separate incidents in two villages under Angul forest division. Forest range officer of Narla Prashant Palo succumbed after being fatally wounded by a tusker while driving away a herd of elephants from near near Ampada of Tulapada village in Kalahandi district last week.
Notably, Odisha tops in deaths due to encounter with elephants in the country. The state saw 148 deaths in 2022-23 amid the ongoing man-pachyderm conflict, the Union environment ministry said in Parliament on December 7.
Revenue and Disaster Management Sudam Marndi had earlier told the state assembly that 259 people had died in elephant attacks from 2021-22 to 2022-23.
The man-animal conflict was on its peak in the first quarter of this fiscal year- April, May, June with 57 deaths being reported during these three months. Wildlife activist Biswajit Mohanty had attributed it to humans and elephants vying for the same fruits like mango, bael and jackfruit which ripen around human habitation and inside forests too.
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