Simdega, December 9: Two women were trampled to death by an elephant in Jharkhand's Simdega district, forest officials said on Saturday. The jumbo attacked them near Ekoda village in Bano area, around 110 km from the Jharkhand capital Ranchi, when they were returning home from a village market on Friday evening, forest range officer Abhay Kumar said.

The women were identified as Marium Mundain (55) and Kamlawati Devi (45). Simdega divisional forest officer (DFO) Ashok Kumar Gupta said, "We are keeping a vigil on the elephant movement. The animal got separated from the herd. Such jumbos are more aggressive due to which they attack people." Elephant Attack in Assam: Two Persons Trampled to Death by a Herd of Wild Elephants in Nagaon.

The forest department provided immediate assistance of Rs 10,000 to the next of kin of each deceased, he said. In Jharkhand, the government provides a compensation of Rs 4 lakh in case of death in an elephant attack. The rest of the amount of ex gratia will be provided after completing some official procedure, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)