“On Sunday night, a herd of 9 elephants had arrived at Kandarpur area to cross to the other side of the river to the Chandaka Sanctuary. While five elephants entered the water, due to strong water current, they were swept away,” he said.
Asked whether these five missing elephants would dead by now, Nayak maintained that the elephants are expert swimmers. But they might have been swept away to different area and entered Chandaka forest. “These five elephants are not visible in the water due to the dense fog. We are trying to trace their whereabouts,” he added.
He also said that the remaining four elephants, who had come to cross the river, have gone inside the Athagarh Forest Range.
The locals, however, said that the herd had about 20 elephants that split into two groups on Sunday night. While one of the herds had arrived at the river embankment at Kandarpur on Sunday night, the other was still inside the Athagarh Forest Range.
The locals also said that they have seen five elephants being swept away off the Mundali barrage in the morning hours.
Till reports last came in, two elephants had reached the river bank near Sarpeswar and Brajabiharpur in the Damapada Forest Range while three were still in the middle of the river near Mundali.
“It seems that the three tired elephants are not able to swim ashore due to strong water current. We have requested the Water Resources Department to open some gates of the Mundali barrage for some time to bring down the water level, which will enable the elephants to swim to the river bank and move inside the Chandaka Sanctuary,” Range officer of the Damapada Forest Range told the media.
