The ongoing conflict between humans and wildlife in Odisha has claimed another life, as a woman was tragically killed by a wild elephant in Angul district on Thursday morning. The incident occurred in Kusumpata village within the Karatapata section of Bantala police jurisdiction, where the victim, identified as Pramila Sahu, had gone to gather mangoes.

Reports indicate that Pramila was in a nearby forest when a wild elephant unexpectedly appeared and attacked her, resulting in severe injuries from being trampled. Local residents heard her cries for help and rushed to her aid, subsequently taking her to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) for medical attention. Unfortunately, despite efforts to save her, doctors pronounced her dead during treatment.

Following her death, fear spread throughout the community, prompting residents to hesitate in leaving their homes. They called on forest officials to remove the elephant from the area to prevent further incidents and urged the Forest Department to implement stricter measures to manage the increasing elephant presence and avoid similar tragedies in the future.

A police team also arrived at the scene to conduct an investigation and sent Pramila’s body for a postmortem examination.