Wild elephant tramples railway laborer to death

Team Udayavani, Mar 8, 2018, 12:52 PM IST

Kadaba: A railway labourer was trampled to death by a wild elephant on Tuesday late night near Anekal Katte in Kombaru village. The deceased has been identified as Ranjit (48) from Madurai in Tamil Nadu. He was one of the workers involved in the repair work of railway bridges along Mangaluru-Bengaluru rail-line.

The railway labourers were sleeping outside their make shift shed near the work site. The frenzied elephant attacked the labourers late in the night, smashing Ranjit’s head and injuring two others. Shanmuga (40) and Laxmana (40) are the injured who are also from the same village. They have sustained minor injuries.

They were working under the leadership of Rangaraj who is a contractor from Andhra. Since the weather was hot the labourers decided to sleep outside their sheds. Late night, Shanmuga heard the sound of the approaching wild elephant and attempted to wake up Laxmana and Ranjit. As Laxmana was attempting his escape he collided with the elephant and fell, but somehow managed to escape the elephant’s wrath with minor injuries. He was admitted to Kadaba community hospital and Shanmuga received first aid.

To prevent wild elephants from entering the work site, pick-up vehicles were parked blocking the path that leads from the forest to the site. But the labourers insist that the elephant came along the way that leads from the village to the forest. The elephant has pushed the parked pick-up vehicle to some distance.

Attempts are being made to contact the relative of the deceased. The dead body has been shifted to Wenlock Hospital, said Kadaba SI Prakash Deveadiga.

The contractor had received permission from the forest department to carry on the repair works. Intimation has been sent to revise the previous permission given according to which the labourers were to report to work site in the morning and return back to their place of stay before it got dark. Rs. 5lacs will be provided as compensation to the family of the deceased, said ACF of Sullia division Jagannath H.S.