india

Updated: Oct 30, 2019 13:55 IST

Five people, including an 11-year-old boy, were killed in separate incidents likely involving the same rogue elephant in Assam’s Goalpara district on Tuesday, officials said.

After directions from Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, experts have been rushed to the area to tranquilise the animal.

“Five people have died. It is one rogue elephant and anyone who came in its way has been affected,” said Varnali Deka, deputy commissioner, Goalpara, on Wednesday.

Deka said specialized teams have arrived from Guwahati and Kokrajhar on Wednesday morning while another team is on its way from Kolkata to tranqulise the elephant which is said to have become aggressive after it separated from its herd.

The state government has also announced immediate compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of the five victims.

JN Hazarika, divisional forest officer of Goalpara district, said TC Nath (65) was the first one to be attacked while he was on his morning walk. In the evening, three more people—Mizanur Rehman (11), Jahanara Begum (27) and M Kalita (35)— were killed.

“The incidents happened in the same area so it’s likely that it’s the same rogue elephant. Our team is there trying to tranquilise it,” said Hazarika.

Deka said all victims belonged to neighbouring villages in Matia area of Goalpara. The district shares a contiguous forest with Garo hills and movement of elephants is common.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal who was on a visit to Goalpara on Tuesday directed that forest department take immediate steps.

“In a meeting with DC, SP & senior officials of Goalpara, CM @sarbanandsonwal took stock of recent man-elephant conflict in the district. The CM directed forest dept to immediately rush a specialised team to control the situation & capture the rogue elephant if required,” a tweet from his office said on Tuesday evening.

Human-elephant conflict toll has crossed 1,000 in Assam since 2010 with 761 human casualties and 249 elephant deaths, according to data placed in state Assembly in February this year.