It’s been reported that a 70-year-old woman was fatally attacked by an elephant in Eastern India. The woman, Maya Murmu, was drawing water in Raipal village when the elephant suddenly appeared and trampled her on Thursday, June 9.
Despite being rushed to the hospital, she succumbed to her injuries, as confirmed by Rasgovindpur police station inspector Lopamudra Nayak.
In a shocking turn of events, the elephant returned to the funeral site later in the evening. The creature proceeded to dislodge the woman’s body from the funeral pyre, trample her again, and toss her around, before disappearing into the night.
Reports suggest that the elephant had traveled 200km from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Jharkhand to the Mayurbhanj district in Odisha state where the incident occurred.
According to local sources cited by the Independent, the second trampling took place during Ms. Murmu’s funeral rites. Despite this horrific interruption, the family decided to proceed with the ceremony after the elephant left.
It’s a grim reality that around 100 people in India lose their lives to elephant attacks each year, with numbers reported to potentially reach as high as 300 according to the World Wildlife Fund.
