A middle aged woman was trampled to death and a girl injured by a tusker, raising the number of persons killed by jumbos to four in three days in Mayurbhanj district.
Soon after the incident, locals staged a protest demanding that the tuskers be chased away.
The tusker attacked the house of Radhi Dehuri (45) and her family members when they were asleep last night. As they came out in panic, the jumbo trampled Radhi to death. The injured two-year-old girl was being treated at the nearby hospital while others escaped unhurt, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Baripada, Sanjay Swain said.
At least three tuskers, believed to have come from Dalma elephant sanctuary in neighbouring Jharkhand, had entered Mayurbhanj district crossing the forest all the way through West Bengal forests, he said.
One tusker had killed three persons in as many days in and around this district headquarters town, while another jumbo caused the death of a villager.
The tuskers had attacked morning walkers here on Sunday, killing one person and injuring nine others including six women, two of them seriously.
Then it turned to Dhanai Marandi (70) who was in front of his house at Baura village under Deuli forest range yesterday.
Demanding that the elephants be chased away from the area immediately, irate villagers staged blockade on the Baripada-Basta road at Rajabasa under Baripada Sadar police station today. Senior forest and police officials had assured them of remedial measures, Swain said.
Meanwhile, panic-stricken villagers were seen deserting their villages to escape attack by elephants while morning walkers here have almost stopped venturing out of their houses in the morning. Roads on the outskirts here wore a deserted look in the evening fearing attack by elephants, he said.
The tuskers were still roaming in nearby Sal forest and effort was on to chase them away, he said.
