Two villagers were trampled to death by a wild elephant in separate locations of tribal-dominated Jashpur district on Friday, a forest official said.
Both the incidents occurred in the morning hours at Kunkuri forest sub-division, he said.
In the first incident that happened near Ib River close to Chulahapani village, a man identified as Pankhasiyus Kujur (54) was killed by the tusker when he had gone to attend nature's call, Divisional Forest Officer (Jashpur division) Krishna Kumar Jadhav said.
Later, around 2 km away from the spot of the first incident, a man identified as Tarsiyas, a native of Pandripani village, was trampled to death by the same elephant when he was collecting herbal plants in the forest, the DFO added.
This elephant has got separated from its herd and is roaming around in Badalkhol Wildlife Sanctuary of the district, he said, adding that forest personnel are keeping a tab on the movement of the pachyderm.
The kin of the deceased persons have been provided immediate relief of Rs 25,000 each, he said.
Notably, the forested Surguja division comprising five districts viz. Surguja, Jashpur, Koriya, Balrampur and Surajpur, and two other districts of Korba and Raigarh of Bilaspur division, have witnessed several such incidents of man-elephant conflicts in the past few years.
The region, which falls in northern part of the state, witnessed deaths of several villagers and widespread damages to houses and crops by rogue elephants in the recent past.