She just wanted to fetch water and died from an elephant attack. But apparently the pachyderm didn’t have enough.
Gentle pachyderms – that’s what elephants are often called in this country. But the nickname does not reflect the danger of an angry elephant. An elderly woman was killed in an elephant attack in India. And not just once, but twice.
The 70-year-old Maya Murmu was fetching water at the well of her village Raipal in the east Indian Mayurbhanj district on Thursday morning when the elephant suddenly appeared, reports the Indian news agency “Press Trust India”. The pachyderm attacked the woman and seriously injured him with kicks from his strong legs. She was taken to the hospital, but died from her injuries shortly thereafter, the region’s police chief, Lopamudra Nayak, told the agency.
return to the funeral
But the elephant didn’t let her come to rest either. According to eyewitnesses, the victim’s family was busy performing traditional funeral rites when the elephant reappeared. According to witnesses, he grabbed the body from the pyre, threw it around and then trampled on it again. Only after the angry elephant finally moved away could the family complete the burial ritual of the desecrated corpse a few hours later. The reports do not indicate whether other people were injured in the second attack.
Where exactly the elephant came from has not been confirmed with certainty. According to the agency, the authorities suspect that he may have migrated to the region from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, 200 kilometers away. According to the “Independent”, clashes between elephants and humans in the region had increased because the habitats of the animals continue to shrink due to intensive mineral mining in the region. In the period from April to October last year alone, there were 42 attacks.
