Andhra Pradesh: Elephants trample Srikakulam youth to death

SRIKAKULAM: A 25-year-old tribal youth was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in the reserve forest abutting Ponnuturu village of Kotturu mandal in Srikakulam district on Saturday evening.
The deceased, identified as T Kumar from Timpatiguda, was attacked by the pachyderms when a group of residents was trying to drive away the animals from their village.    

According to Patapatnam forest range officer Soma Sekhar, the herd of pachyderms ventured into the area on the village outskirts at around 7 pm. Some residents, including Kumar, in their attempt to shoo away the elephants, started pelting stones.Kumar, who was reportedly drunk, was trampled to death when he moved very close to the pachyderms. Being dark, the villagers remained oblivious to his fate.

As the youth did not return home on Saturday night, his family along with a group of villagers searched for him and Sunday morning they alerted the forest officials who found him lying dead.Divisional forest officer Santi Swaroop visited the village and paid `10,000 towards cremation expenses of the youth and promised a compensation of `5 lakh to the family of the victim.As per the forest department records eight persons have been killed by elephants since 2007, while four pachyderms reportedly died in the same period in the district.