Four of family trampled to death by elephants in Chhattisgarh

Four members of a family, including two minor girls, were today trampled to death by a herd of wild"elephants"in Dharamjaigarh forest division in Chhattigsarh"s Raigarh district, forest officials said.

The incident took place this evening near Koilar village when the victims were returning after picking up minor forest produce, a local official said.

The deceased were identified as Netram (50), Manglai (45), Aarti (7) and another minor girl Ritu, all belonging to the same family residing in Koilar, he said.

A forest official said that a herd of 26 elephants had been spotted in the area several times in the past few days.

Further details of the incident were not immediately known, he said, adding that a team had been rushed to the spot to evacuate the bodies from the forest.

He informed that forest ground staff had been directed to provide Rs 25,000 per deceased to their kin.

Northern Chhattisgarh, a heavily forested part of the state, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, is notorious for human"elephant"conflicts, said officials.