Bhubaneswar: The operation to rescue an elephant stuck near Mundali in Mahanadi river turned tragic as the boat used by the ODRAF team capsized after being attacked by the tusker on Friday.
As per sources, few members of the team along with two media personnel were swept away after the boat capsized. They were attempting to rescue an elephant stuck near Mundali bridge.
The elephant is one among seven others of a herd that were swept away by heavy currents while crossing Mahanadi river near Mundali today morning.
It got stuck near Mundali bridge while the remaining six elephants safely reached Nuasasan in Athgarh block of Cuttack district.
Till the filing of the report, three ODRAF personnel had been rescued and rushed to SCB Medical College & Hospital.
Subsequently, some country boats also joined the rescue operation and two more persons including one media personnel were rescued in a critical condition.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) also reached the spot and launched a rescue operation. Police is also present at the spot to control the crowd.
