Man dead as herd of wild elephants runs amok in C'garh village

A 45-year-old man was today trampled to death by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district, officials said.

The incident occurred in the small hours in Mohanpur village under Surajpur Forest Division, when the victim, identified asJeetan Singh, was visiting his relative's place, a forest official said.

As per preliminary information, a herd of elephants stormed into the village, located around 450 kms away from here, late last night prompting villagers to flee for safety, he said.

Singh, who was also trying to flee, got trapped and was trampled to death by pachyderms, he said.

Forest and police personnel rushed to the spot and sent Singh's body for postmortem this morning, the official said.

The kin of the deceased, who hailed from Jharkhand, will be given compensation as per the rules, the official added.

The thickly forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Surajpur and Balrampur districts, is notorious for the incidents of conflicts between humans and elephants.

In recent years, the region has witnessed frequent killings of tribals and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogueelephants.