Sonbhadra (Uttar Pradesh), Nov 3 A herd of around 15 elephants wreaked havoc in Sonbhadra distyrict of Uttar Pradesh and trampled a 10-year-old girl to death.
The elephants damaged houses in the Nemna village as they rampaged through and crushed corn and paddy stocks.
According to villagers, the herd raided early Monday after damaging paddy crops in the fields. The elephants broke the wall of the house of Jagjivan Ram and started throwing the gunny bags full of corn and paddy. Later, they ate the same corn and paddy.
Ram's family and other villagers started running around for a safe shelter. During the chaos, Sunaina, daughter of Jagjivan Ram was crushed by the elephants.
Forest officials, on Monday, tried to send back the herd to sanctuary area of Chhattisgarh. This was the second incursion of elephant herds from the neighbouring state in a fortnight.
"It was a herd of around 15 elephants, which attacked the village in Jarha forest range under Bijpur police station area after midnight. Most unfortunate aspect of this attack was the killing of a minor girl," said Renukoot Divisional Forest Officer M.P. Singh.
The body of girl has been handed over to her family after post-mortem examination and measures are being initiated to provide financial assistance to her family under natural calamity scheme."
Sunaina was rushed to the nearest hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead.
Apart from police, the team of forest officials and staff led by ranger Mohd Zaheer Mirza were camping in the area. Mirza said that his team was monitoring the area in view of the possibility of another attack by elephants.
( With inputs from IANS )
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