Elephant dies fleeing from mahout

An elephant died on Sunday evening falling into a pond on being electrocuted after separating from two other animals and their handler, or mahout, and damaging two thatched houses in Chittagong's Hathazari upazila.

Some Maddhya Quaish villagers who witnessed the incident, along with Shikarpur union Chairman Bakkar Siddique, told The Daily Star that the animal became agitated in front of Quaish College on the Kaptai road, trumpeting and stamping its foot.

The elephant, a male believed to be aged over five years and weighing around 1,000 kilogrammes as per the forest department officials, crossed a canal to enter the locality, they said.

It damaged the houses before ramming a utility pole, causing a cable to fall and electrocute it, they said. None was reportedly injured as the houses' residents escaped jumping into an adjacent pond, said Bakkar.

Another, of nearly the same size as the first, ran away, roaming adjacent Burishchar union and damaging some houses before last being seen moving towards Raozan upazila early morning yesterday, said the locals.

The mahout headed towards the direction he came from, Kaptai area, with the remaining elephant, which locals suspect is the mother of the two. Forest officials are yet to trace the mahout and the two elephants.

On the dead body lifted out of the pond using a tow truck yesterday afternoon, Assistant Conservator of Forests Jahangir Alam said they would conduct an autopsy before burying it in Rangunia upazila.

Chairman Bakkar said it was common for mahouts to come to the locality and make the elephants use their trucks to salute people before demanding money.