GUWAHATI, Aug 17: Three members of a family, including an infant, were killed in Assam’s Udalguri district by a herd of wild elephants early Wednesday morning.
The incident occurred in the remote Kamalabari village in the district along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
The deceased were identified as Nabin Basumatary (53), his wife Jamini Basumatary (33) and their 18-month-old child Hadanashwa Baswamatary.
The locals said that a herd of wild elephants entered their village and went on a rampage.
The elephants destroyed several houses in the village, besides damaging paddy fields.
An officer from the local police station said that according to the locals’ claim, a family of three became terrified seeing the elephants and they started running from the place.
However, some elephants came face-to-face with the family and killed them.
Nizara Basumatary, a seven-year-old girl from the same family, miraculously escaped.
According to the locals, the wild elephants often come from the forest in search of food and run amok in the village.
Reacting to the incident, the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) urged the state government to take responsibility for the child.
The ABSU has also urged the forest department to identify the elephant buffer zones surrounding the villages and provide necessary protection to curb man-elephant conflict.
Earlier, in a similar incident in Goalpara district, amid the Independence Day celebrations, a herd of wild elephants trampled three people to death. (IANS)
