A 10-year-old girl was on Sunday trampled to death by a wild elephant in the Marwahi forest range in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district, an official said.
The girl, identified as Chhoti, was attacked when she went to pick ‘Mahua’ flowers with a group of around four children near Rumga village, Marwahi Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dinesh Patel said.
The other children managed to run away when they saw the elephant but the girl failed to escape in time, Patel said.
The elephant ran after the girl and killed her, the official said. Forest officials sent the body for post-mortem.
The family of the deceased was given an initial relief amount of Rs 25,000 and the remaining compensation will be disbursed after completing official formalities, the officer said.
The Forest Department had alerted villagers about the presence of three elephants in the area on Saturday night but the children ignored the warning and went to collect Mahua flowers, Patel said.