Two people were killed and at least five injured in when a wild elephant went on a rampage in Shah Suja village of Dulahazara union in Chakaria upazila yesterday. The elephant also damaged three houses.
Upazila administration and locals said Faridul Alam, 60, and Al Kumara Begum, 50, were killed as the elephant stampeded through the village early morning as people were sleeping in their houses.
Five people were injured trying to save the two from the elephant.
Villagers said the elephant had gotten separated from its herd when some farmers tried to chase them away from a paddy field. Finding itself alone, the elephant went on a rampage and began attacking cottages.
The officer-in-charge of Chokoria police station Ranjit Kumar Barua confirmed the incident.
There are hundreds of small villages in the hilly areas of Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban districts, and their number is growing. Wild elephants in Bangladesh are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The global agency says there are only 200-300 remaining. The loss of their natural habitat due to rapid human encroachment increasingly brings the elephants into dangerous encounters with people.
According to local authorities of the two districts, at least 15 people were killed, 45 injured and about 55 houses damaged in elephant attacks in the last six months.
