Coimbatore: A youth was killed and his friend seriously injured in an elephant attack in Coimbatore on Sunday night when they were trying to chase away a wild elephant that had entered a residential area. According to the forest department, R Karthik of Indira Nagar in Viraliyur near Thondamuthur and his friend A Harish (22) of Kanuvai were attacked when they tried to chase away a wild elephant that had entered their village. S Bhaskaran, 55, a native of Kumbakonam and employed as a priest in a temple in Viraliyur, was returning home from the temple when the elephant attacked him. He suffered fractures in his legs and collapsed. Upon receiving information, a team of forest department personnel rushed to the spot and sent him to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) in 108 ambulance. The forest department asked people to stay safe due to elephant movement, but meanwhile a wild elephant entered a field in ‘Erumakuttai’ village.
After this, Karthik and his friend Harish tried to chase the elephant, when another elephant came out of the darkness and attacked them. The enraged elephant chased and trampled Karthik, while his friend Harish suffered serious injuries. He was rushed to CMCH for treatment. In another incident, three people were slightly injured in an attack by a wild elephant which was returning to the forest in the morning after attacking crops in the fields in Thondamuthur. Meanwhile, AIADMK MLAs led by former minister and Thondamuthur MLA SP Velumani on Monday submitted a petition to District Collector Kranti Kumar Pati, demanding concrete measures to stop elephant intrusion and save lives. They demanded the forest department to remove the wild elephant from their area.
