In a tragic incident, a 26-year-old mahout named Aravind, hailing from Puthuppally, lost his life after being crushed by an elephant in Kerala's Vaikom.
The incident occurred on Wednesday night around 9 pm during a temple ceremony at TV Puram Sreerama Swami temple.
A video of the incident, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), shows the heart-wrenching scene. The footage shows the elephant, known as Kunjulakshmi, adorned in traditional nettipattam, suddenly turning violent and crushing Aravind who was near its feet.
Watch the video here:
Reports indicate that despite immediate medical attention from locals and subsequent transfer to Vaikom Taluk Hospital, the mahout succumbed to his injuries.
Aravind had only been serving as Kunjulakshmi's second mahout for a month.
In a separate incident, another farmer died after allegedly being attacked by a wild elephant in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district of Telangana. Forest department officials reported that the male tusker, which had strayed into Telangana from neighboring Maharashtra, had trampled another farmer to death the previous day while he was working in an agricultural field on the outskirts of Burepalli village.
This marks the first instance of a wild elephant entering Telangana, as the state does not have any resident wild tuskers. Efforts to drive the tusker away continued as the incident occurred in the victim's fields near Kondapalli village in the district around 5 am to 6 am.
Meanwhile, district authorities imposed restrictions under CrPC section 144 in the mandals of the district where the elephant was found moving as well as in the nearby areas , a senior official told PTI. All villagers are being informed not to move out of their homes till the situation is under control.
