TURA: A villager in North Garo Hills narrowly escaped death after a wild elephant chased and trampled him leaving him with serious injuries on Sunday night.
The incident took place at Upper Sambrak village under Mendipather police station after a herd of wild elephants entered the area in search of food.
To force the pachyderms to leave, the villagers began making sounds from drums and other items and some of the villagers also gave chase to the animals.
During the chase, one of the elephants charged at thirty year old Pangsrang G Momin of Depa Garat village who had joined the villagers.
He was badly beaten and trampled by the elephant which left him for dead with his stomach ripped open in the attack. Badly injured but alive, he was rushed by villagers and the police initially to Wageasi health centre from where doctors forwarded him to Goalpara civil hospital for initial treatment before taking him to GNRC hospital in Guwahati where he was successfully operated upon and is said to be recuperating.
While the villager is one among the rare cases to escape death many others have not been so lucky. This is the second elephant attack in the same district in the last two weeks.
On the night of January 2, 57-year-old Julindro Marak of Salpara Bakenang village under Mendipather police station lost his life in an attack by the wild pachyderms. He had left home to keep a night watch over his paddy crop in the field when he was attacked by the wild elephants. His lifeless body was found the next morning.
A similar incident took place in November in Chapahati village of Mahendraganj border region of South West Garo Hills when a 45-year-old villager was killed by the wild beasts while standing guard over his crop in the field during the night.
Wildlife teams have been advising villagers to desist from giving chase to the animals and not to be out in the open fields at night as they become vulnerable to attacks by elephants who are hungry and in search of food. But the villagers complain that many a time it is difficult to get in touch with wildlife teams due to the distance and are thus compelled to initiate their own measures to contain the problem, which at times can have devastating consequences with loss of life.
