(IN): Four injured in jumbo attack at Kaziranga

March 16, 2010

Four injured in jumbo attack at Kaziranga

A STAFF REPORTER

Four members of a family from Calcutta were injured after a forest

department elephant attacked their vehicle at Kaziranga National Park in Assam

on Monday evening.

Sources said Rupak Guha, 43, wife Keka, 35, and daughters Ratul, 10, and

Konkona, 6, were heading back after a safari in a Maruti Gypsy when they

were attacked in the Mihimukh area of the park.

The Gypsy driver, Raju Karmakar, was also injured and his condition is said

to be critical. The family was released after preliminary treatment at

Bokakhat government hospital.

According to park officials, the elephant, Rudra, broke one of its tusks in the

attack.

“The elephant is not trained. It is the fault of the [forest] department

that the mishap occurred,” a shocked Guha told *Metro* from the hospital. He

said that under the impact of the attack, the car rolled over three times

before coming to rest against a tree.

The Guhas, who live in Kidderpore, had reached Kaziranga on Monday

afternoon. They will leave for Calcutta on Tuesday.

The range officer of Kohora, under whose jurisdiction the mishap site falls,

A. Rahman, said: “The elephant was carrying ration to an anti-poaching camp

inside the park. A mahout and a guard were accompanying it.”

He added that the tourists had forced the Gypsy driver to stop when they

spotted the elephant and started clicking pictures, paying “no heed to the

warnings of the mahout and the guard”.

Guha denied he was taking pictures of the elephant. “The elephant was almost

blocking our way. Our driver asked the mahout whether we could pass and he

said we could. Suddenly, it charged towards our vehicle and threw it off the

road,” Guha said.

Punen Gogoi, the president of the Kaziranga Jeep Safari Association, said

Rudra was aggressive in nature and was responsible for similar attacks

earlier.

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