A young man, identified as Abhisekh Nayak of Masania village of Odapada block here, on Wednesday was seriously injured for attempting to click a selfie on his mobile phone with a wild elephant.
The locals of Masania village in Khadagprasad gram panchayat were panicky for the past two days as a herd of elephant had strayed into their panchayat. Out of curiosity, a few locals had ventured into the woods to have a glimpse of the wild elephants.
Without realising the risk involved, Nayak went to one of the wild elephants to snap a moment with him.
Getting intimidated, the tusker went violent and chased Nayak while he moved too close to click the selfie. The elephant charged at him and attacked him. With near fatal injuries, the villagers somehow managed to rescue him from the spot and rushed him to the Dhenkanal headquarters hospital.
later, he was shifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar. Meanwhile, sociopolitical leader and chairman of SNSMT Suparno Satpathy expressed concern over the incident and wished the victim’s speedy recovery. He urged the State Government to take action to reduce the rising trend of man-animal conflict.