Panic prevailed as a herd of more than 70 elephants entered into some villages in Mayurbhanj district on Odisha-Jharkhand border on Monday night.
The herd had come out of Dalama sanctuary and travelled into the villages. Though locals and foresters tried hard to drive away the pachyderms yet they did not return to their native place, sources said. While some villagers have left their homes in panic, police and forest personnel have taken others to safer places. “It is difficult to say whether this herd of pachyderms came from Jharkhand or West Bengal States, but we are trying our best to escort them into the Nilagiri forest,” said a forest official.