Chhattisgarh: Woman killed in elephant attack; grandson injured while trying to escape

A woman was killed in an attack by a wild elephant at a forest in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district on Thursday, a forest official said.

Her eight-year-old grandson was injured while trying to run away from the spot, he said.

The woman, identified as Dhaniya Bai (42), a native of Parasi village, was attacked by the tusker in the morning when she went to pick 'mahua' flowers along with her grandson in Ramvan forest area near the village located along the Chhattisgarh-Madhya Pradesh border, Marwahi divisional forest officer Dinesh Patel said.

When they came face-to-face with the elephant, the duo started running away. The elephant chased them and trampled the woman to death, he said. The woman's scared grandson got injured while trying to escape from the spot, the official said. Forest officials rushed to the spot after being alerted, he said.

The child was admitted to a community health centre in Marwahi for treatment, he said.

The kin of the deceased were given an initial relief amount of Rs 25,000, the official said, adding that the remaining compensation will be disbursed after completion of the due process, he said.

The official said the forest department could not alert residents about a wild elephant from neighbouring Anuppur forest division in MP roaming in the surrounding villages, due to an indefinite strike of the forest field personnel going on since March 21 over their various demands.

Notably, the thick-forested northern Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Korba, Surajpur, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, is known for human-animal conflicts.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals as well as elephants and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue pachyderms in the past years.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)