Group narrowly escapes wild elephant attack in Kerala’s Athirapally

PTI, Jan 14, 2025, 12:04 PM IST

Thrissur: A group of people narrowly escaped a charged wild elephant while traveling in a car through a forest-fringe area in Athirapally in this district on Tuesday.

The incident occurred early this morning when five men were on their way to a shooting location in the area.

One of the passengers later recounted that they had a close call with the elephant near Kannankuzhy.

He said the wild elephant attempted to damage the vehicle and drag it with its tusks.

“We first saw the jumbo from a distance of 100 metre. It suddenly came running towards our vehicle. We were shell-shocked and we could not even reverse the car as there were other vehicles behind us,” the passenger recalled.

He explained that as he attempted to steer the vehicle away, the enraged tusker attacked it and tried to drag it with its tusks.

Amid the chaos, all the passengers managed to escape to safety, he added.

The police confirmed receiving information about the elephant attack and said no passengers were injured in the incident.

Local residents identified the wild elephant as “Murivalan,” a notorious rogue tusker known for straying into human settlements and causing destruction.