Man killed by jumbo while trying to take selfies

Gumla: Attempts to click selfies with an elephant and record its videos proved to be a fatal mistake for a man from Baghni village under Sisai police station limits in Gumla district on Sunday.
Mahfooz Ansari, 25, was in a crowd of locals who were recording an elephant at a small forest patch named Chharda-Patra around 5 pm Sunday evening. Hours earlier, the elephant had trampled a 60-year-old man in the same area.
Even though the local quick response team (QRT) and forest officials were urging the locals to move to safety, the locals did not pay heed. Gumla divisional forest officer (DFO) Ahmed Belal Anwar said Ansari was taking selfies and recording a video on his mobile phone.
Rakesh Mishra, a forester who is in charge of Gumla forest beat, said, "The enraged elephant charged towards the crowd, especially targeting Ansari. While trying to flee, Ansari was also making a video. But the elephant caught him with its trunk, tossed him to the ground and stepped on him. Locals took him to Sisari referral hospital after the elephant retreated to the forest patch. However, the doctors declared him brought dead."
Earlier around 7 am, a group of 50 villagers entered the forest patch where the elephant had moved in. Among them was 65-year-old Bhola Oraon, a native of Chharda village. Oraon was drunk. Seeing the crowd, which was being warned by some members of the local quick response team (QRT) not to get closer to the wild elephant, the elephant started running towards it. All the others managed to escape, but Oraon could not. "The elephant caught him with its trunk and tossed him to the ground. As it returned inside the forest patch, he died on his way to the hospital," he said.
Mishra said the elephant entered the forest patch from Amalia, Samsera, Raikera, and Bantoli forests. The families of Ansari and Oraon were paid Rs 10,000 each as initial compensation. With it, the number of fatalities in human-elephant conflict in recent weeks in Gumla rose to seven.