An Assam Police constable identified as Amjad Ali died in the early hours of Sunday after a wild elephant attacked him inside a police battalion camp in Assam's Goalpara district, officials said.
A Lone Elephant on the Camp Road
The attack took place at the camp of the 17th Assam Police Battalion in Dakurbhita. Ali was reportedly walking back to his duty location inside the camp when he suddenly came face to face with a lone wild elephant. Preliminary accounts of the incident say the animal grabbed him with its trunk before flinging him to the ground and trampling him.
Rushed to Hospital, Declared Dead on Arrival
The attack left Ali with critical injuries, and he lost consciousness at the scene. Fellow personnel rushed him to a hospital located near the camp, but doctors who examined him found no signs of life and declared him dead on arrival.
A Familiar Danger in Goalpara
The death has brought fresh attention to the long-running conflict between humans and elephants in Goalpara district, where wild elephants straying close to human settlements and camps have repeatedly led to injuries and deaths in the past. Forest patches in the district border areas where police and civilian establishments operate, making chance encounters with solitary elephants like the one that killed Ali a recurring hazard for people living and working there.
Questions Officials Have Yet to Answer
Officials are yet to share further details on exactly how the elephant entered the battalion camp premises or what triggered the animal's aggression that night. It is also not yet known what steps, if any, the Forest Department plans to take to prevent similar attacks at the camp or elsewhere in Goalpara in the future.
