48-year-old estate worker trampled to death by wild elephant

A 48-year-old estate worker was today trampled to death by a wild elephant at Meppadi in the district, police said.
The deceased, identified as Mani, a plumber at the Chelukka cardamom division of AVT tea estate, had gone into the forest to open a drinking water connection to the estate lines when the incident occurred early morning, police said.
His co-workers, who went into the forest in search for him, found his body, they said.
The workers and a group of villagers who gathered at the spot did not allow the police to take the body as they demanded compensation for the family and also measures to prevent elephant attacks.

Senior forest officials and politicians assured the villagers that measures would be taken to address their issues, following which they dispersed.
Later, a postmortem was held at the Vythri taluk hospital and the body was handed over to his relatives, police said.