A 76-year old man was killed after an elephant, which was brought for a temple festival in Haripad, ran amok on Thursday.
The incident occurred around 9 a.m. when Saravanan, the elephant, which was brought from Panmana Subramanya Swamy Temple in Karunagappally, was being readied for a festival at the Thiruvilanjal Devi Temple at Karuvatta. On being startled, possibly by a small commotion created by local residents, the pachyderm ran amok for a distance of over 5 km until it passed the Town Hall junction in Haripad.
The elephant charged towards Manoharan Pillai, an ex-serviceman, who was reading the newspaper in his courtyard. He was hit by the elephant’s trunk and was killed on the spot.
Mahouts managed to bring the elephant under after nearly one-and-a-half hours.
