Bargaon: In yet another human-animal conflict in the state, a man died here after he was attacked by a tusker at Gargadbahal village under Baragaon forest range in Sundargarh district in the wee hours of Tuesday. The deceased person has been identified as Hiralal Behera, 55, a resident of the same village. Locals said that they got the information that a herd of 30 elephants from Panchara area had entered Gargadbahal village.
On getting the information, Hiralal rushed to his farmland fearing possible damage to crops. On his way, he was attacked by the elephant. Before Hiralal could realise what was happening, the elephant picked him up with its trunk, and smashed him to the ground before trampling him to death. On receiving information, Forest Department officials rushed to the spot. They sent the body to the hospital for postmortem. An investigation in this regard has been started by the officials of the Forest Department. It has also launched the process to drive the elephant herd to a nearby forest.
