Elephant On Rampage Crushes Sleeping Family of 3, Mom And Son Dead

A rampaging elephant trampled a woman and her son to death while they were inside their hut in India.

The victims, identified as 41-year-old Rina Munda and 12-year-old Sahid, were asleep in the hut when the elephant entered and crushed them to death. The mammal that was searching for food also attacked Rina’s 45-year-old husband Prasanta Munda. The incident took place in a village in the eastern state of Odisha in the wee hours of Thursday, the New Indian Express reported.

Forest officials and the police rushed to the scene after receiving calls from the neighbors. While the woman and her son were pronounced dead at the scene, Prasanta was rushed to a local hospital for treatment.

"Our team was sent to trace the elephant. Preliminary investigation suggests that it was a lone tusker who got separated from its herd. The team is tracking the tusker’s movement," the New Indian Express quoted a forest official as saying.

The village is located under the Jamankira forest range.

"We have informed the forest division officials about the incident and have initiated the process to disburse compensation to the kin of the deceased. While 20 percent of the compensation will be disbursed within 48 hours, the rest will be provided after police submits its investigation," the forest official added.

Officials said the elephant had gone on a rampage at another nearby village two days ago, and had destroyed 10 homes.

In a similar incident, a 10-year-old girl from a village in Uttar Pradesh, India, was trampled to death by wild elephants who were on a rampaging spree, destroying crops and houses. The herd of 15 elephants ran amok the village raiding paddy fields before entering the houses. The victim, identified as Sunaina, was crushed to death when the elephants attacked her house. The girl was left behind as the family ran for shelter. The house was utterly destroyed. The forest officials who responded to the scene a short while later sent back the herd to a nearby wildlife sanctuary.

In another similar incident, a notorious elephant trampled five villagers to death in Assam, India. The villagers were having sleepless nights as the elephant was a frequent visitor. Officials then used drones to capture the elephant who had made his way into the deeper side of the jungle.