Shahdol: A herd of elephants crushed three villagers to death in Bansa village of Jaisinghnagar in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol on Wednesday, taking the toll in such attacks to five in the last two days, officials said.
District collector Vandana Vaidya said three more people - a couple and a woman - residents of Bansa village, were trampled to death on Wednesday when they ventured into the forest of Jaisingh Nagar for collecting mahua flowers. "The victims had entered the forest despite being alerted by the forest department and administration personnel about the movement of wild elephants there," she said.
The dead have been identified as Lallu Singh (50), his wife Lalita Singh (48) and his sister-in-law Baby Singh Kanwar (38) who died on the spot in the attack. The police have registered a case and sent the dead bodies for post-mortem. DC Vaidya said that financial assistance was being provided to the family of the victims
After the incident, there is an atmosphere of fear and panic in the surrounding areas as it is the second such attack in the last two days. On Tuesday morning, a couple, identified as Motilal Basor (60) and his wife Muliya Bai (55), was trampled to death under Amjhor forest range by a herd of wild elephants.
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The forest department and police personnel are keeping an eye on the elephants. Forest department officials said that a group of elephants reached Semra Ware House last night. After eating paddy there, they left for Bansa. According to the Forest Department, the group of elephants was roaming just half a kilometre away from Shahdol Rewa Road.
A forest official had earlier said that the herd comprised two male and female elephants each and three calves. A patrolling team is keeping a watch on the movement of the herd and people in the area have been alerted, the official said.
(With inputs from agency)
