Shahjahanpur: A man died and five others were injured after a herd of wild elephants go on rampage and attacked them in separate incidents near South Nighasan range of Dudhwa tiger reserve (DTR) on Sunday.In the first incident, when Sobharan (45), Ramsnehi (34) and Dileep Kumar (14) of Baglaha Raj village went inside Ludhori forest to collect fodder, they were injured by three wild elephants. They were admitted to hospital in “critical condition” by forest officers.Later in the afternoon, a tusker got separated from the same herd and reached Baglaha Raj village adjacent to the forest and attacked two farmers — Rameshwar (60) and Gopi (58) — working in a sugarcane field.After villagers alerted the forest department about the presence of tusker, forward officer Shiv Babu Saroj rushed to the village and shifted the injured to hospital in his vehicle. However, Rameshwar succumbed to his injuries during the course of treatment, while Gopi sustained multiple fractures.In the meantime, the separated tusker attacked a man astride a motorcycle. The biker received minor injuries. Later, the annoyed elephant also injured a buffalo grazing near the cane field.Forest officers and local villagers busted crackers and lit fire to push the elephant back to the forest area.The forest department deployed Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) and forest staff to keep locals away from the elephants.Divisional forest officer Anil Patel, who reached the spot to take stock of situation, told TOI that one person died, while five others were injured. “We are using all available resources to push the elephants back to the core area. Drone camera is being used to track the movement of the elephants and STPF personnel have been deployed to maintain a safe distance between humans and elephants. A male elephant has caused maximum destruction after it got separated from the herd.”DTR field director Ramesh Pandey told TOI, “We have spoken to the district administration for sanctioning compensation to all victims, at the earliest. Besides, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), India, will provide a relief of Rs 10,000 to each of the victims on Monday. We have deployed forest staff and STPF to ensure no man-animal conflict takes place.”

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