Elephant riot in Koderma, two including a 10 month old baby were crushed to death:

News India Live, Digital Desk: The terror of wild elephants is not stopping in Koderma district of Jharkhand. Late on Tuesday night, a herd of elephants caused huge destruction in Kanjhiyadih village of Jaynagar police station area. In this heart-wrenching incident, a 10-month-old infant and another person were brutally crushed to death by elephants. After this incident, there is mourning in the entire area and there is huge anger among the villagers towards the forest department.

‘Gajraj’ wreaks havoc on sleeping family

According to the information received, the incident took place around 2 o’clock in the night when workers were sleeping with their families at a brick kiln located in Kanjhiyadih. Suddenly a huge herd of 22 elephants arrived there. Hearing the trumpeting of the elephants, there was a stampede among the workers. Amidst this chaos, elephants destroyed a hut in which a 10-month-old innocent child was sleeping and got crushed under the feet of the elephants. He died tragically on the spot.

Even the laborer did not get a chance to recover

The anger of the elephants did not subside here. Another 40-year-old laborer working at the kiln was also targeted by the elephants. When he was trying to run away to save his life, an elephant caught hold of him by his trunk, threw him on the ground and crushed him. Other workers somehow saved their lives by running away. As soon as information about the incident was received, the police and forest department teams reached the spot and took possession of the bodies and sent them for post-mortem.

Villagers’ allegation: Administration did not wake up even after information

Local villagers and brick kiln owner allege that the forest department was already informed about the movement of elephants in the area. The officials of Domchanch Forest Range knew that a herd of elephants had entered this area from Rajauli (Bihar), but proper security arrangements were not made in time. However, the forest department has clarified that they were trying to drive away the elephants, but the kiln owner delayed in alerting the workers.

Compensation announced, but panic continues

The death toll in elephant attacks in Koderma has increased to 7 within the last one month. The Forest Department has provided immediate assistance to the families of the deceased and has started the process of giving compensation of Rs 4 lakh each under government provisions. At present, the herd of elephants is still camping in the nearby forests, due to which people in the nearby villages are forced to stay awake all night and keep vigil.