Kolkata, May 31 (PTI) Three members of a family, including a one-month-old girl, were killed by a wild elephant in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district on Saturday, a senior forest officer said.
The incident took place when the pachyderm strayed into Kunjanagar area from the nearby Jaldapara National Park.
It first trampled to death Manoj Das (31) as he came out of his house on hearing the trumpet of the animal.
When the man’s mother, Makhanrani Das (63), rushed out to save her son, with her one-month-old granddaughter Manisha Das in her lap, the elephant picked up both with its trunk and thrashed them on the ground, leading to their death on the spot, the officer said.
Local people blocked the Falakata-Kunjanagar Road for several hours demanding that the forest department take steps to prevent such elephant depredations.
“There had been similar deaths in elephant attacks in the past. But the forest department has refused to take steps,” Tarun Das, family member of the deceased, said.
The forest officer said the department was forming squads involving locals to ward off wild elephants straying into human settlements and advised people not to come near any elephant. PTI SUS ACD
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