On Thursday noon, panic struck the residents of Adarpalli and its adjoining villages under Pattamundai block as a domestic elephant went berserk and ran helter-skelter in the village roads by forcing the villagers to remain in indoors.
The rouge animal then entered into a stream before throwing its master off its shoulder and injuring him on the way near Nayakat village. But the pachyderm did not injure any villagers, nor did it damage any property.
According to one Sunil Kumar Dubey, a Mahout, he and three other Mahouts came with a domestic pachyderm from Banaras to Kendrapada to collect money and food grains.
While they were moving toward Gangarampurpatana, some villagers and children started shouting. They also ran behind the elephant by creating noise, which provoked the elephant to go unruly.
However, after the elephant could not come out of the water in the stream, fire tender personnel were from Pattamundai and forest personnel of the Bhitarkanika National Park were summoned up, who after more than an hour of struggle, brought the animal on to the bank.
According to forest official sources, the elephant ran into the water to cool its body as it suffered heat stroke. The pachyderm was fit and fine, after being rescued.