Four persons died in elephant attacks in Cooch Behar on Friday as a herd of six jumbos moved around for a second day in the Dinhata sub-division after straying from the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary 60km away in Alipurduar district.

On Friday evening, foresters managed to steer four of the elephants into the Patlakhawa forest in Cooch Behar. They are planning to tranquilise the remaining two elephants, if needed, to prevent further loss of life and property.

“Four persons have died in elephant attacks. We have managed to drive four elephants into the Patlakhawa forest and are trying to send the other two to the same area. Also, arrangements are being made to tranquilise and shift the two to the forest,” said Bijon Kumar Nath, the additional divisional forest officer of Cooch Behar division.

On Thursday morning, people in the villages of the Matalhat panchayat in Dinhata were taken by surprise when they spotted the herd in agricultural fields. Foresters reached the spot and said the herd seemed to have walked into the area all the way from the Jaldapara Wildlife Sanctuary.

They tried to steer the herd back into the forest as hundreds of people swarmed the villages and followed the elephants, which moved from one field to another. The situation became uncontrollable and the sub-divisional administration of Dinhata had to clamp prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 to restrict the movement of vehicles and the assembly of people in four villages.

The herd then proceeded to the neighbouring Sitalkuchi area, rebuffing the efforts of foresters to drive them into the forest.

In Choto Salbari area, an elephant injured Majid Mian, a local. He was rushed to the sub-divisional hospital in Mathabhanga where he is under treatment.

From there, the herd entered Taurikata, a village in Mathabhanga-II block where one of them attacked Budheshwar Adhikary, 65, who was cutting grass for his cattle. Locals rescued him and rushed him to a rural health centre in Nishiganj where doctors pronounced him dead.

An elephant from the herd attacked and killed Ananda Pramanik, 61, in the same area while he was working in his field.

The herd entered the Unishibisha area of Mathabhanga, where the elephants
attacked and killed Rekha Rani Roy, 68, and Jayanti Sarkar, 48.

None could recall a previous instance where four persons had died in elephant attacks in a single day in north Bengal.

“They are entering human habitats as the elephant corridors have shrunk and got fragmented. The forest department should take immediate steps to restore the corridors,” said Shyamaprasad Pandey, a wildlife conservationist based in Jalpaiguri.

As the elephants moved from one place to another, teams of foresters followed them along with the police.