A tea worker was killed and at least four others sustained grievous injuries after being attacked by an irate elephant at a tea estate in Assam’s Nagaon district on Friday night.
The incident was reported from Hatigaon tea estate in Kaliabor.
Sources said that the tusker unleashed a reign of terror at the tea estate where the workers were resting after a long day’s work.
During the ordeal, one of the workers, identified as Laxman Minj, died, while four others sustained injuries.
The injured were identified as Prakash Ekka, Pratap Ekka, Dhiraj Tirki, and Shani Kerketa - all of whom were admitted to a hospital for medical attention.
Forest officials later reached the scene to take stock of the situation.
It is suspected that the wild elephant had strayed inside the tea estate in search of food, sources informed.
Man-animal conflict is turning out to be a common occurrence in several parts of Assam. Recently, a man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Cotton Mill in Balipara’s Chariduar Village in Sonitpur.
The terrifying incident took place when the deceased went to feed banana to the elephant.
Notably, in a bid to reduce the rampantly spiking human-elephant conflict in Assam, a network of local communities called the Elephant Conservation Network (ECN) has been formed in several conflict hotspots of the state.
This can be termed as a novel approach adopted in Assam, the state which harbours the world's second-largest Asian elephant population.
The hotspots of man-elephant conflict include Udalguri, Baksa and Goalpara districts of the state.
The initiative was launched by Aaranyak, an organisation actively working to mitigate human-elephant conflicts for the benefit of human well-being as well as to aid in the conservation of Asian elephants.
