Tusker goes berserk, gores two to death in Kerala

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A tusker took Kecheri region by storm on Thursday morning, when it ran amok for nearly four hours, killing 2 persons, injuring 13, overturning a crowded private bus, and damaging several vehicles within a 15 km radius, off Kunnamkulam.

People heaved a sigh of relief after experts came in and tranquilised the elephant, Kuruppath Sivasankaran.

The elephant turned violent at about 7.30 am when he was taken out for a bath at his owner’s compound. He trampled the mahout, Aziz, 22, of Muthuvattur, who succumbed to his wounds in hospital.

The other victim was Aloysius, 47, of Maliyekkal, who was watching the scene. He was lifted by the tusker, tossed in the air, and on landing on the ground, was trampled to death.

From the bathing place, the tusker rushed along the Kecheri- Aloor road, damaging a tipper lorry on the way. The driver, Xavier, managed to escape. “When I saw the elephant, I didn’t know it had turned violent.

I thought it was coming with the mahouts and I parked the lorry by the side to give way to the elephant. But it ran towards my lorry, and ripped the right side of the cabin apart. I jumped out through the other side,” he said.

The elephant then went ahead and lifted an auto rickshaw on the road and placed it on a boundary wall. Meanwhile, all vehicles were stopped and parked on the roadside.

The violent tusker then attacked a crowded Thrissur-bound mini bus and pushed it to a temple ground. The passengers inside were screaming aloud. It overturned the bus, but the passengers had a miraculous escape.

To make matters worse, onlookers started throwing stones and logs at the elephant, which then turned towards another pocket road and damaged a school van.

The driver of the van, who was the lone occupant, managed to escape. One person was injured seriously and more than 10 other victims, mostly college students, have been admitted to the Amala Hospital.

When the jumbo headed for the Thrissur-Kunnamkulam state highway, the police diverted the traffic. On Thalakkottukara road, it trampled Aloysius. Police officials later sent the body for post mortem.

Police, veterinarians of the elephant squad and a large crowd followed the elephant, which was tranquilised at around 11 am at Pattikkara, near Kechery. Veterinary doctors, Dr P.B. Giridas and Dr T. S. Rajeev, said that the animal had shown no sign of musth and they were at a loss to explain why the elephant had turned violent. There was no chain on the tusker. It has a wound on its trunk.

Schools, shops and business establishments in the area remained closed till noon.