Assam: Elderly woman trampled to death by elephant

A 62-year-old woman was trampled to death by a herd of elephants in Assam’s Tamulpur district on Thursday night, nine years after her husband died in a similar manner, family members said.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Pradip Kumar Bhuyan said a herd of elephants entered a village at Nagrijuli area of Tamulpur near Indo-Bhutan border in search of food on Thursday night and vandalised several houses.

“Our officials were informed by the villagers after the attack, and they said most of the residents managed to escape. We inspected the area after the elephants left and one trampled body was recovered,” he said.

The deceased person was identified as Taramani Barman, police said.

“We keep facing such attacks. Her husband Punil Barman was killed by elephants nearly a decade back and she struggled financially after that…now she died in a similar manner, which shows the severity of the problem we are facing,” the family members said.

The woman’s body has been handed over to her family members after the postmortem process.

“This herd of elephants is roaming in various parts here and their unusual behaviour has become a matter of concern for us. We are examining all the factors to find a solution,” the DFO said.

This was the fourth such incident in Assam in the last three days. On Wednesday, a 45-year-old man died in Goalpara district, while two women were trampled to death by wild elephants in Udalguri district on Tuesday.