KODAIKANAL
In yet another instance of man-animal conflict, a wild elephant attacked two women workers at a private coffee estate at Pallathukalvai near here on Thursday.
According to Forest department officials, most of the workers, residing in neighbouring Kavuchi Kombu village, are engaged by the estate owners on a daily wage basis.
The officials said some of the workers of an estate owned by one Karuppasami spotted an elephant in the immediate vicinity on Thursday and ran to safety. Two in the group of about 15 women – Iyyammal and Parameswari of Kavuchi Kombu – were attacked by the elephant.
The other women workers said on hearing their cries for help, villagers rushed to the spot but they had to struggle for about 15 minutes to chase away the elephant and save the two women. Since they could not get a 108 ambulance immediately, they called a private ambulance and the two victims were rushed to a private hospital in Oddanchatram.
Some of the estate managers claimed that elephant encounters were on the rise in KC Patti, Pallathukalvai, Kavuchi Kombu and a few other places on the hills. Though, the forest officials in Kanniwadi range were aware of the problem, they had not taken any concrete action, they alleged.
According to doctors treating the two victims, the duo had suffered multiple injuries.