Wild elephant tramples fisherman to death near Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A fisherman was trampled to death by a wild elephant in the Bhavani Sagar backwaters at Mayilmokkai, located within the Sirumugai forest range, in the early hours of Wednesday.

The deceased has been identified as A George alias Chelladurai of Kothamangalam village near Sathyamangalam in Erode district. George stayed in a temporary shed on a small patch of land in the middle of the river and fished.

George and three other fishermen set up fishing nets in the river and slept on the patch of land. Around 1 am, a wild tusker waded through knee-deep water, reached there and trampled George. The others became aware of the elephant’s presence only after the incident. They managed to escape by swimming across the river.

"The elephant entered the patch of land as the water level was only knee-deep. After trampling George, it returned to the river," said an official in the Sirumugai forest range.

Following the incident, forest officials instructed fishermen to vacate the area and avoid staying there overnight as a precautionary measure. George’s body was retrieved and sent to Mettupalayam Govt Hospital, where a postmortem was conducted.

“We gave an initial compensation of Rs 50,000 to the deceased’s family. The remaining Rs 9.50 lakh will be disbursed once the family submits the required documents, including the death certificate and medical records,” the official added.