Guwahati, Dec 15 : Amidst growing incidence of man-elephant conflicts in western Assam’s Goalpara district, four persons, including a forest worker, have been killed in separate incidents of attacks by pachyderms on Thursday.
On Thursday afternoon, a herd of wild elephants attacked three vehicles plying on national highway 12 in the Lakhipur area, killing three persons, including a minor, on the spot.
According to reports, the deceased have been identified as Jaybor Ali (from Azara-Salmara village in Bilasipara), Ramani Rabha (from Udaipur, Dudhnoi) and his minor daughter, Jenisa Rabha. The bodies have been sent to Goalpara Civil Hospital for post mortem.
Rabha’s wife, Monisha, was critically injured in the incident and is currently undergoing treatment at Goalpara Civil Hospital.
Sources said forest officials from Lakhipur range office, located close to the incident site, fired in the air and managed to chase the marauding herd away.
According to reports, three from a herd of 10 to 12 elephants came charging from about 100 metres away to the national highway, apparently disturbed by some persons who were clicking pictures.
Subsequently, around 1.55 pm, they came close to vehicles plying on the highway and went on a rampage, attacking – a Maruti Swift and an e-rickshaw, which were moving towards Goalpara from Lakhipur, while another passenger vehicle was coming towards Lakhipur.
Three passengers were killed as a result of the attack by the pachyderms, one injured while the other passengers in the vehicles escaped unhurt.
Forest worker killed
In another incident, a forest worker was killed in an attack by wild elephants when he was returning home from work in the Sholmari area of Goalpara district on Thursday evening, sources said. The deceased has been identified as Shahdev Rai (51).
According to an official, in 2022 itself, as many as 25 persons have died in Goalpara district in human-elephant conflicts so far while seven elephants have lost their lives, reportedly by way of food poisoning, in the district.
Rampant destruction of forest cover, human encroachment on elephant corridors, construction of houses and various other reasons have contributed to the rise in human-elephant conflicts in the district.
In yet another incident of man-elephant conflict at Rangjuli in Goalpara district, two persons suffered injuries in an attack by a wild elephant.