Two persons were trampled to death by wild elephants in Coimbatore and the Nilgiris districts on Friday night and Saturday morning.
In the first incident, A. Nagamuthu, a resident of Kannampally at Cherangode near Gudalur in the Nilgiris, was trampled to death by a wild elephant late on Friday. The incident took place at Kannampally around 8.45 p.m., said forest officials
Nagamuthu is the second person to have been killed in the attack of wild elephants in the Gudur Forest Division this week. On December 8, another person was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Manvayal near Gudalur.
Gudalur forest range officer G. Ramakrishnan said the Forest Department handed over ₹ 50,000 of the ₹ 4 lakh given by the government as solatium to the family of the deceased as immediate relief.
In another incident, a 75-year-old man from a village near Thondamuthur in Coimbatore district was killed in the attack of a wild elephant on Saturday morning. The deceased has been identified as P. Arumugam from Vanjiamman Nagar.
Forest Department officials said that a male elephant entered Vanjiamman Nagar near Thondamuthur, around 3.5 km from the nearest forest boundary, in the early hours of Saturday. According to the officials, Arumugam was standing in front of his house around 6.30 a.m. and the tusker pushed him down as it was passing through the place. The elephant trampled him, and he died on the spot.
The same elephant also chased two youngsters from the village and pushed them down. The duo, K. Arusamy (19) and K. Muthu (18), managed to escape with minor injuries. Arumugam's body was taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem.
Frontline staff of the department drove the tusker back to the forest.
Officials added that ₹50,000 will be given to the family of the deceased as immediate relief. Arumugam is the 16th person to have been killed in elephant attacks reported in the Coimbatore Forest Division this year.
