Bhubaneswar, February 24: At least four people were trampled to death on Sunday by an elephant after it entered residential areas and attacked people in Bhubaneswar's Patrapada. Six other people were also injured by the elephant. An operation is underway to drive it away to Chandaka forest. The deceased were identified as Chaitanya Sahu of Rajtei village and Makara Palei of Matighar village, Ajay Nayak of Jamalpur village and Jugal Kishore Bhatt of Gopinathpur panchayat. Elephant Attacks a Bus in Calicut, Passengers Panic: Watch Video.

According to a report published in The New Indian Express, at least 60 forest guards of city forest division and forest staff from Chandaka division are closely tracking the movement of the elephant. City divisional forest officer AK Mishra told the media house, “The tusker is in distress and is moving within the plantation area. We will facilitate its movement to Chandaka forest division in the evening which is around 7 km away from Patrapada.” Elephant Creates Chaos During Temple Festival in Kerala's Palakkad; Topples Car, Injures Mahout (Watch Videos).

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The elephant reportedly came from Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary and moved towards Delang area in Puri district. HS Upadhyay, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said, “As people are not used to elephant movement in Puri, many people started coming very close to the elephant, clicking photos and even touching it which led to a loss of human lives.”

The eastern state of Odisha often witnessed such incidents of elephant attacks in the past. Last month also four people lost their lives after an elephant attacked villagers in Jajpur district of the state.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 24, 2020 09:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).