Angul: Two persons, including a woman, were killed in an elephant attack in Pateli village under the Angul forest division in Odisha’s Angul district on Thursday morning. The victims, identified as Shankar Biswal and Jhilli Manji, both died on the spot.
According to reports, Shankar and Jhilli confronted a wild elephant when they had gone to the nearby forest early this morning for some work. Local villagers spotted their blood-stained bodies in the forest.
As the news of their deaths spread, tension gripped the entire area. Angry villagers soon blocked the Angul-Bantala road and burnt tyres bringing vehicular traffic to a halt. The agitators were demanding protection from elephant attacks, protection of their crops from wild animals, and compensation to the bereaved families.
According to the villagers, the region had witnessed at least 15 deaths due to elephant attacks in recent times. They accused the Forest Department personnel of failing to drive away the wild elephants that frequented their villages in search of food.
