Mother, two kids crushed to death by elephant in Bargarh

BARGARH: A pall of gloom descended on Saldihi village in Bargarh’s Jharbandh block after a woman and her two children were crushed to death in their sleep by an elephant on Monday night.

The deceased were identified as 33-year-old Pana Bariha, her daughter Sunanda (11) and son Aditya (3). Pana’s husband Bipin Bariha had a narrow escape.The tragic incident took place at around 11 pm when the Bariha family was asleep in their house.

Sources said a herd of three elephants were roaming near the village since the last few days. On Monday evening, local forest staff visited Saldihi and asked the villagers to remain alert and refrain from going out of their houses.

However in the night, an elephant entered the village in search of food and broke into the house of Bipin before trampling his wife and two children to death in their sleep. Three other persons injured in the elephant attack are undergoing treatment at Padampur community health centre.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) of Bargarh Bikram Dev Pattnaik said a compensation amount of 60,000 has been sanctioned for each of the deceased. The Bariha family will receive a total of1.80 lakh soon. The rest compensation amount will be issued after the postmortem reports are received.

“A team comprising forester, forest guard and elephant squad members has been deployed in Saldihi village to monitor the movement of the elephant herd in the area,” the DFO added.