BHOPAL: Two villagers were reportedly trampled to death by wild elephants in two separate incidents in Umaria district of eastern Madhya Pradesh on Saturday morning.One villager who was hurt in one of the incidents has been hospitalised and now stated out of danger. While one incident happened in the buffer zone of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR), the other incident happened in one of the villages located outside the BTR territory.The two deceased men have been identified as Ram Ratan Yadav (62) and Bhairav Kol (35). Another villager identified as Malu Sahu, meanwhile, was injured in one of the incidents, while he was harvesting the standing paddy crop in his fields. The two incidents occured just a day after 10 wild elephants (including one male and nine females, two of them being pregnant) died in three days in the Salkhaniya jungles of the BTR.With 13 strong herd now left with 3 elephants only (including an adult and two semi adults), forest department officials in the concerned area suspect that three elephants involved in the twin tragedies with villagers on Saturday morning, may actually be the remaining members of the same herd of jumbos.“Elephant is a social animal and doesn’t easily forget the loss of its herd’s members. From the details given by the residents of village where the incidents happened on Saturday morning, three elephants, including an adult and two semi-adults are involved. We suspect that furious with the loss of their 10 herd members, the remaining elephants of the same herd (particularly the adult) are attacking humans. We’ve formed multiple teams to search for the three elephants and rescue them after tranquilization,” a senior forest department official said.
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