A woman succumbed to serious injuries sustained in a chance encounter with a herd of elephants in the jungles of Terai central forest division here on Tuesday. According to officials, the woman had gone in to the woods under the Rudrapur forest range with other women to graze goats when the fatal chance encounter with the pachyderms took place.
According to information received, Asgar Ali works as a security worker on contract at the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and lives with his family in the Masjid colony adjoining the university campus. On Tuesday afternoon, his wife Sayra Bano, aged 35 years, had her lunch and in the company of other women from the neighbourhood went to the woods at a distance of about 200 metres. The women went near the Baigul river flowing through the jungle to graze their goats. At that time, a herd of about eight to 10 elephants also reached the site in search of water. Seeing the elephants, the women started to run away from the site. The other women were able to run away from the reach of the pachyderms but Sayra Bano was unable to escape as she got surrounded by the elephants who reportedly started smashing her to the ground. On hearing the screams of the woman, the local residents arrived and made much noise and shouted to scare the jumbos away but did not dare to approach closer to attempt rescuing the woman. The witness state that when Sayra Bano stopped shouting, the elephants nudged her body with their trunk and probably considering her dead, left the site. The local residents, feeling afraid of the elephants then hesitantly approached the woman and found that she was still breathing. In a rush, the woman was taken to the Pantnagar hospital but she succumbed to her injuries before she could receive medical treatment. As news of the woman’s fatal chance encounter with elephants spread in Pantnagar town, the people started arriving at the hospital. The police and other officials concerned convinced the bereaved family members who allowed the body to be taken for post mortem examination. It is pertinent to mention here that earlier on April 18, two young elephants were killed after being hit by the Ranikhet Express train near the Haldi railway station. Rudrapur forest range officer BD Joshi said it might be possible that the assault of the elephants on the woman may have been influenced by the accidental death of the two young elephants in the recent past. In the meanwhile, the forest department has appealed to the locals to abstain from going into the jungle area. The department has also stated that an ex gratia of Rs three lakh will be provided to the bereaved family.