KOTTAYAM: Fear and panic prevailed along the Kottayam - Kumarakom tourism corridor for nearly two hours on Tuesday evening after an elephant, which was taken back after attending a temple festival in Kottayam, turned unruly and killed its mahout. Though the tusker Thirunakkara Sivan attacked a private bus, no one was injured. The deceased is Vikram, 26, the first mahout of the tusker.
The situation turned worse by 6 pm when the tusker was taken to be chained at Chengalam after attending the festival at Mahadevar temple, Thirunakkara. The elephant turned unruly when it reached Ambakkuzhy and ran towards Chengalam with the mahout on top. The driver of the private bus, which was heading towards Kottayam, stopped the vehicle seeing the charging elephant. The tusker attacked the bus and tried to lift it with its tusks. It also destroyed the windscreen of the bus. In the meantime, Vikram tried to dismount. But the elephant pressed him against an electric pole.
Though the local people diverted the attention of the tusker and took the mahout to Government Medical College Hospital here, his life could not be saved. Later, the elephant ran towards Chengalam and stood on Maruthana - Idakkerichira Road for a long time.
Although veterinary doctors from Kottayam elephant squad Sabu C Isaac and Sasindranath had arrived on the spot, Manoj, the former mahout of the elephant, was brought from Ponkunnam and he was able to chain the tusker by 8 pm.
Revenue Divisional Officer Anil Oommen, Kottayam tahsildar Rajendra Babu, a police team from Kumarakom and Fire and Rescue team from Kottayam were also on the spot. According to the police, the elephant was recovering from musth and it was brought for the festival a couple of days ago.