Kerala: Man’s jumbo close-up bid ends in hospital at Alappuzha

ALAPPUZHA

: A 43-year-old truck driver was whacked and gored by an

elephant

when he went too close to it to take a

photograph of the tusker

at Punnapra here on Tuesday.

The trucker, Reneesh of Kunnampally in Punnapra, was taken to the medical college hospital with grievous injuries and was undergoing a surgery at the time of filing this report.



The incident occurred around 4.30pm. Two elephants were chained to trees at Aravukadu Sreedevi Temple. Reneesh went close to one of the elephants, Omalloor Govindankutty, and in a video clip being circulated on social media, the animal was seen stretching its trunk towards him. The man, however, proceeded closer and tried to click a picture on his mobile phone.

The elephant whacked him with his trunk, and the man was seen thrown into the air. The animal leaned forward and gored him, even as onlookers tried to distract the beast.

Reneesh’s friends and onlookers took him to the hospital, Alappuzha DSP P V Baby said. The officer termed the man’s condition to be ‘serious.’

In a similar incident reported from Kilimanur in Thiruvananthapuram in April 2016, a 37-year-old man was injured by an elephant when he tried to click a selfie with the animal. He escaped with minor injuries. In November, 2017, a 25-year-old man attempted to repeat a ‘Bahubali’ stunt and was whacked by an elephant, Parthan, at Karimannoor, near Thodupuzha. In a Facebook post, the youth later regretted his foolish act.

In June 2017, a group of tourists tried to click selfies with wild animals in the background on Anamalai Road in Vachumaran forest area . They were chased by a herd of elephants.