Border guard, woodcutter trampled to death

Two people, including a Border Guard Bangladesh member, were trampled to death by wild elephants in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong yesterday.

The BGB man was identified as Lance Nayak Habibur Rahman, 44, who hailed from Jhalakathi, reports our Cox's Bazar correspondent.

Commander of BGB-17 Battalion in Cox's Bazar Col Khalequzzaman said Habibur was killed after three wild elephants attacked a BGB team which had gone to Himchhari Shampan Hill area in Ramu upazila around 2:00am to carry out a drive against human traffickers.

He said they had information that a group of people, after being lured into going abroad for a better future, had gathered there to get on a boat to go to Malaysia illegally. 

During the raid, the elephants suddenly came out of a nearby jungle and attacked the BGB personnel, leaving Habibur critically injured.

The animals fled into the jungle after the other BGB members started firing on them in self defence, said Khalequzzaman.

Later, Habibur was rescued and rushed to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead.

The BGB official said the body was sent to the victim's village home in Jhalakathi.

The BGB battalion announced a Tk 5 lakh financial aid for the family of the deceased.

In a separate incident, a woodcutter was crushed to death by another group of wild elephants in Boalkhali upazila of Chittagong yesterday morning.

The dead was Ahmed Noor, 32, son of Siddique Ahmed.

After visiting the spot, Hamidul Huq Mannan, Ahala Karaldenga Union Parishad chairman, said Noor and other five to six men had gone to Karaldenga hill to cut logs there.

The elephants suddenly came out of a nearby jungle and ran amok around 7:00am, killing Noor. The others, however, escaped unhurt, adds our Chittagong correspondent.