Woman killed, her 2 sons injured as tusker attacks them

Lucknow: A 45-year-old woman was killed, and her two teenage sons, sustained serious injuries after a tusker ran amok on the Bichhia–Mihinpurwa road under the Katarniaghat Wildlife Division in Uttar Pradesh late on Friday. The incident triggered panic among residents in the forest fringe areas.
According to officials, Munni Devi (45), a resident of Paras Purwa village in Lakhimpur Kheri district, went to Khale Purwa village in Mihinpurwa for medical treatment along with her sons, Karan (17) and Arjun (15). Around 3 pm, the trio was returning home on a motorcycle via the Mihinpurwa–Bichhia highway when the attack took place.Eyewitnesses said a tusker suddenly emerged on the road between Nishangada and Bichhia. As the motorcycle slowed down, the elephant charged at them. The victims' elder son, Karan, recounted that the elephant grabbed his mother with its trunk, flung her to the ground, and trampled her before retreating into the forest.The sudden attack caused chaos in the area. Passers-by rushed to help after the elephant moved away. Local residents Gole Qureshi of Bichhia and Waris Ali of Amba transported the injured to a private doctor in Bichhia by bus, where Munni Devi was declared dead. Both sons suffered serious injuries to their arms and other parts of the body.Forest department officials reached the spot soon after being informed. Initially, there was confusion over whether the incident occurred under the Nishangada or Katarniaghat range. Divisional forest officer Apoorva Dixit later confirmed that the attack took place in the Nishangada range area. Rangers Ashish Gond (Katarniaghat) and Surendra Srivastava (Nishangada) were dispatched with forest personnel to monitor the situation.The forest department urged villagers and commuters to remain alert while passing through forested stretches and to avoid travelling alone in vulnerable zones.