A wild elephant has trampled six persons to death and injured several others in Bhagalpur district of Bihar since Thursday.
Four persons guarding a mango orchard were killed at Fatehpur village on Friday night. The deceased were Prasadi Tanti, 70, Makho Devi, 75, Srishti Devi, 72, and Mohammad Ehsan, 15. The elephant chased and killed them and injured three others, Bhagalpur Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Kumar said.
The injured were admitted to the Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College and Hospital at Bhagalpur.
On Thursday night, the elephant, thought to have been strayed from Jharkhand, killed Aarti Devi, 65, of Dayalpur village, and Prithivi Yadav, 60, at Sofli village.
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Forest Department officials have reached Bhagalpur to monitor the movement of the elephant.
“This is a male elephant which has strayed into Bihar from Jharkhand, taking the Sahebganj corridor bordering Bhagalpur,” said S.S. Chaudhury, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife).
He said the straying of elephants was normal during their mating season, which is under way.