Road blocked as child dies in elephant attack

Protesters yesterday blocked the PAB Road in Chattogram's Karnaphuli upazila for six hours after a three-month-old child died in an elephant attack.

The child, Arman Zawad, son of Md Ibrahim, died around 2:00am yesterday in the incident that took place in Shahmeerpur village under the upazila. The child's mother also sustained injuries and is currently receiving treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital, said police and locals.

"The elephant attacked my house at night. To save life, my wife Khadiza left the house with my child, but the elephant struck her with its trunk, throwing her to the ground. My child died on the spot. I want action to prevent more deaths from elephant attacks," Ibrahim said.

In protest, agitated locals blocked the road at 6:00am with the child's body, creating severe gridlock and suspending vehicular movement from KEPZ gate for eight kilometres.

Police forces were deployed to control the situation, Shafiul Islam Patwary, officer-in-charge of Karnaphuli Police Station.

Wasim Akram, a protester, demanded a herd of four elephants to be removed from the area.

"We need a guarantee from the upazila administration, the forest department, and KEPZ authorities that the elephants will be relocated," he added.

Protesters left the spot at 12:00pm upon assurances from forest officials.

"Our higher officials are working on this issue. KEPZ used to run a 15-member elephant response team, but they have not been working after KEPZ stopped paying them salary since January. If the ERT members were present, the incident could be averted," said Nur Jahan, an official of Forest Department in Chattogram.

"KEPZ authorities informed they have 100 trained volunteers for elephant response and they could be deployed to prevent further attacks," she added.