Elephant breaches Dehradun Airport wall, enters runway

There was a stir at Dehradun's Jolly Grant airport late night on Tuesday after an elephant breached the boundary wall and entered the runway. It took the forest department team two hours to drive out the pachyderm from the airport premises.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand): An elephant late Tuesday night breached the boundary wall and entered the runway at Dehradun's Jolly Grant airport leading to a stir among airport officials. When the security personnel caught sight of the elephant walking on the runway, the airport staff immediately informed the forest department. It took the wildlife personnel around two hours to drive out the pachyderm from the airport premises.

As soon as the forest department team reached the spot, they burst firecrackers to chase the elephant from the airport. Initially, the elephant left the airport and entered a village nearby and damaged several houses. However, the animal later again ventured into the airport premises. The wildlife team then had to toil again to drive the elephant out successfully.

Deharadun Police Station Range Officer NL Doval said, "The elephant had entered the airport at around 2 o'clock in the night. The forest department team had to work hard to get him out. After leaving the airport, the elephant then entered a village wherein it caused a lot of damage. Apart from the boundary wall of the airport, many houses in the nearby village were also damaged. Later, the animal went back into the forest."