Elderly woman trampled to death by tusker in UP's Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary

Bahraich (UP), Mar 22 (PTI) An 80-year-old woman was trampled to death by a tusker near the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district on Sunday, marking the third such fatality in the region since last month, officials said.
    The victim, Kuwariya Devi, a resident of Bhawanipur village in the Katarnia forest range, was grazing her goats near the forest edge around 11 am when the incident occurred, they said.
    "The woman had gone looking for one of her goats that had strayed into the forest area. She was attacked and trampled by a tusker, leading to her death on the spot," Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Apoorva Dixit told PTI.
    Local residents reported that despite the woman's cries for help and attempts by nearby farmers to scare the animal away, the elephant remained at the spot for some time before retreating into the wild.
    Villagers added that the same tusker had damaged crops in a nearby field earlier that morning.
    Police and forest department teams reached the site and sent the body for a post-mortem.
    An immediate assistance of Rs 10,000 has been provided to the kin of the deceased, the DFO said, adding that formalities are underway to release the ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh according to government norms.
    She also advised the villagers to remain alert.
    The incident has sparked panic among locals as it follows two similar attacks recently. On February 14, a 45-year-old woman from Lakhimpur was killed on the Mihinpurwa-Lakhimpur road, and on February 15, an elderly ascetic was killed in Karikot village.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)