A 70-year-old woman, who was standing outside her residence in Neithalapuram village in Talavadi Hills in Erode district, was trampled to death by a wild elephant on Saturday.
Villagers said the elephant had earlier ventured out of the forest and damaged a sugarcane field in the village. The elephant subsequently trampled the elderly woman, identified as Kalamma, in which she suffered serious injuries. After residents raised an alarm, the elephant left.
Villagers admitted her to the Upgraded Primary Health Centre at Talavadi where she died. As news of the death spread, the villagers gathered outside the hospital and prevented the staff from taking the body to the Government Hospital in Sathyamangalam for a post-mortem. They were pacified by Revenue and Forest Department officials and later the body was shifted to Sathyamangalam. Immediate assistance of ₹50,000 was handed over to the victim’s family.
Villagers said severe drought conditions were prevailing inside the forest, and wild elephants frequently entered human habitations in search of water and food. This was the third death in the locality in two months, they said and blamed the Forest Department for not digging new elephant-proof trenches or maintaining the existing trenches.
