Saptari elephant attack: Another man succumbs to injuries

RAJBIRAJ: Death toll in the Saptari elephant attack has reached two after another man who was trampled by the pachyderm succumbed to injuries in hospital on Tuesday.

The second victim has been identified as Sanjaya Safi (25) of Hanumannagar-5. Earlier, Roshan Jha (25) of the same locality had breathed his last at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, where Safi was also admitted.

A wild elephant from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve strayed into the human settlement in Hanumannagar, which used to be the district headquarters in the past, and wreaked havoc earlier this morning.

Eight persons were injured, three of them critically, in the incident. Two of the critically injured died, while the other is receiving treatment in Dharan, while four others are admitted to the Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital in Rajbiraj, according to SSP Anurag Dwivedi said.

Locals and security personnel shooed the wild elephant towards Koshi Barrage, according to police.