Bhubaneswar: In an unfortunate incident, two elephants including a baby jumbo were killed in separate incidents in Sambalpur and Sundergarh district on Saturday night.
A female elephant was electrocuted while baby jumbo died after being hit by a moving train in Sundergarh district.
The female elephant died due to electrocution in a forest near Chardapashi village under Nakatideula Range in Rairakhol Division of Sambalpur.
It is suspected that the trunk of the jumbo came in contact with an 11 KV wire hanging down in the forest.
After receiving the information, Rairakhol DFO, ACF, ranger and other forest personnel reached the spot and inspected the spot. DFO Arvind Mohanty said that the incident will be investigated.
The work of wire replacement is going on in the area. Still, such an unfortunate incident occurred, Mohanty said.
On the other hand, people have blamed both the forest and energy departments for such incident.
Locals alleged that the death of the pachyderm occurred due to a lack of coordination between the forest and the Energy department.
In a separate incident, a baby elephant died after being hit by a train in Sunuburu section of Barsuan Range in Sundargarh district.
The dead baby elephant was surrounded by a herd of six elephants on the rail track.
The railway and forest department staff and officials arrived at the spot and started an investigation.
