Khurda: To survive after being tossed in the air by an elephant is nothing short of a miracle for Rabindra Kumar Jena, a resident of Kaipadar village in Khurda district.
According to Kaipadar villagers, Rabindra had gone to a nearby cashew orchard to collect nuts early Friday morning. While he was busy plucking nuts, an elephant appeared out of nowhere. Before he could act, the animal caught him up on its trunk and tossed him up and left the spot.
Rabindra fell on the ground but luckily not head first and thus cheated death.
Locals rushed him to Khurda district headquarters hospital for treatment.
It may be mentioned here that in the past few months, man-elephant faceoffs have been on a rise in the area. A young man from Goda village under Begunia block and another man from Malipada village also escaped elephant attack with some minor injuries in the recent past.
Locals have urged the forest department to take necessary measures to drive the jumbos away from the locality.
PNN
