Six tourists who went to the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar in a vehicle on Saturday afternoon escaped with minor injuries as a rhino attacked the vehicle and overturned it.

A woman in the group suffered a fracture in her hand. The driver and the guide also suffered injuries in the incident. In Jaldapara, which is the largest habitat of one-horned rhinos in the state and has a population of around 300 rhinos, Saturday’s incident was rare.

A rhino attack has not been heard of in the area at least in the past 15 years. Sources said in the afternoon, the tourists hired an SUV for a wildlife safari, along with a guide. The SUV moved through forest tracts and reached an area between JP-V and Torsha-I compartments of Jaldapara.

In forest areas, a compartment is a term used to identify different locations. There was another car behind them. The tourists saw a female rhino with her calf beside the road.

While they were clicking photos and videos of the animals, the rhino suddenly turned, which made Mithun Biswas, the guide, to alert the tourists. “It was evident that the rhino wanted to cross the road,” he said. The driver put the vehicle in reverse gear.

The rhino, with the calf behind, suddenly walked on the road and charged towards the vehicle aggressively. Then, it hit the SUV with its horn. The driver lost control and the vehicle teetered off the road and fell to the side.

The tourists shouted in panic while the rhino and its calf crossed the road and ran into the grassland. The vehicle and the tourists still lay a few metres away.

“We are fortunate that it didn’t attack us the second time when the car toppled. We were all in shock,” the guide, who has suffered a head injury, added.

After the rhinos ran away, they came out of the vehicle one after another. Also, tourists traveling in another car behind them helped. Foresters were informed and eventually, the vehicle was also shifted from there.

According to forest sources, Ishani Pal and Nil Pal from Calcutta, Pradipta Mukherjee, Nikita Dey, and Dipanwita Naha from Siliguri, and Avijit Kundu from Dhupguri were occupants of the vehicle.

All of them, along with the guide and Kamal Karjee, the driver, were taken to the block health centre in Madarihat. All, except Nikita, who ended with a fracture in her left land, were released after primary treatment. Nikita was later shifted to the district hospital here.

Senior foresters, who said that it is a rare incident in this region unlike elephant attacks, said that wild herbivores feel insecure if they are with the calf and see any object moving close.

“Preliminary investigation shows the rhino along with the calf felt insecure and attacked the vehicle. All those who got injured were rescued and shifted to the hospital for treatment,” said Deepak M., the divisional forest officer of Jaldapara wildlife division.

Gaur scare

A gaur (Indian bison) walked into Bashtari village of Alipurduar- I block from the adjacent Chilapata forest on Saturday morning. People gathered to catch a glimpse of the animal as it moved through the village. Foresters were informed who cleared the crowd and kept on tracing the animal. In the afternoon, they could finally tranquillise the gaur, which was later released into Chilapata forest.