Kerala: Man killed in wild elephant attack in Wayanad

By Aishwarya Nair | First Published Feb 10, 2024, 9:22 AM IST

A wild elephant reportedly from Karnataka entered the Mananthavady region of Wayanad and attacked a man in the Padamala area. The man identified as Aji, succumbed to the injuries.

Wayanad: In a tragic incident, Aji Panachiyil (42), a Payyampally native succumbed to injuries from the wild jumbo attack that happened early Saturday (Feb 10) morning. The elephant from Karnataka with a radio collar came to Wayanad. The elephant first wandered into the Mananthavady region's human settlements. The forest officials drove the jumbo away. However, the animal later attacked Aji in the Padamala area.

The elephant broke into the courtyard of the house of the deceased by breaking the boundary walls and attacked Aji. Some others including children, fortunately escaped the attack. The elephant ran towards Aji and he ran inside the house's compound for safety. To the utter terror of the locals, the wild elephant broke down the wall and trampled him.

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The body of the deceased has been shifted to Medical College Hospital in Mananthavady.

Following the incident, fear has been triggered in the area and the officials have imposed Section 144 in four wards of Mananthavady Municipal Corporation including Kurua, Kurukanmoola, Payyampally, and Kadamkolli in the wake of the elephant attack.

Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran said that there is a lot of sensational news coming from Wayanad. The minister said that efforts are being made to send the elephant back to the forest. The forest department is doing things, but the people are not getting the benefit of this. He said that more mission teams will be sent and the current situation will be resolved. It should be ensured that there are no more casualties, the minister said.

For the past four days, the animal has been wandering around the forests of Wayanad and its surrounding areas. The event happened while the Kerala Forest Department was keeping an eye on the elephant.

It is alleged that even after forest officials knew about the presence of the elephant in the region, there was no intervention by the authorities.

Meanwhile, the forest departments of Kerala and Karnataka are blaming each other for the death of Ajeesh aka Aji in the elephant attack. The wild jumbo with a Karnataka radio collar crossed the Kerala border this morning. The Kerala Forest Department alleged that Karnataka was not ready to provide the elephant's radio collar signal.

However, the Karnataka Forest Department explained that there is no need for an antenna and a receiver to get the radio collar signal. The current elephant in Mananthavady is given a radio collar that can give a signal based on satellite. The tracking information can be obtained by entering the user name and password in the centralized monitoring system of the Forest Ministry. That is why the centralized tracking system exists.

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