Wild elephant attacks woman

A wild elephant attacked a woman causing serious injuries at Kombai near Dharmathupatti on Wednesday.

Forest officials said that the incident took place in Block 1 of Kombai range in Kannivadi Forest limit.

Perumal, a native of Surakkapatti near Dharmathupatti, and his wife P Janaki Ammal, 45, have a farm at Kombai, where they cultivate lemon. When they were working in the field on Monday, an elephant attacked her. The animal left the spot when Mr Perumal cried loudly. Neighbours rescued her. She taken to the Government Hospital in Dindigul for treatment.

According to the District Forest Officer S Prabhu, she was stable but sustained fractures on her hip and hands.

Janaki Ammal’s son Muthupandi said that as there was no elephant movement in the area for the past 10 days, they had ventured into their farms. But one out of two elephants that was in hiding there attacked by mother, he said.

Though the Forest Department officials had set up a camp of two Kumki elephants – Chinnathambi and Kaleem – on a mission to drive away these wild elephants, the tragic incident had taken place. Mr Prabhu said that investigation was on as the victim is fragile to respond to specific queries.

Tension prevailed among the people in the area after the incident. They demanded necessary steps to prevent any more human-elephant conflict.