Coimbatore: A 42-year-old tribal man was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Sembukkarai tribal settlement near Mangarai here on the early hours of Thursday. Forest department officials said the man was found dead on his agricultural land located near the tribal settlement.
The deceased was identified as S Murugesan, 42. The incident took place on Thursday early morning, when he was returning to the settlement from his agricultural field. “He did not notice the wild elephant, which suddenly attacked him and trampled him to death,” an official said.
Around 10 am, people from the tribal settlement noticed the body and informed forest department officials. S Suresh, range officer, Coimbatore forest range, and his sub-ordinates reached the spot and sent the body to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem.
After the autopsy, the body was handed over to the family members. The forest department has given Rs 50,000 to the kin of the deceased as immediate relief. The remaining amount of Rs 3.5 lakh will be given to the family shortly.
Suresh told TOI that the tribals in the settlement were instructed not to sleep outside their houses and not to roam in the area at night and early morning hours. “Elephant moment is common in the area. We are not allowing any vehicles from Mangarai-Sembukkarai tribal settlement at night hours for safety purpose. They should also coordinate with the forest department.”
