An elderly woman and two other persons were killed in separate incidents of attack by wild elephants in Chhattisgarh, officials said on Friday.
While two men were trampled to death in the Mohla area of Rajnandgaon district, the woman was killed in a similar incident in neighboring Balod district, they said.
All three incidents took place on Thursday.
A herd of more than 20 elephants entered Bhainsbod village in the Mohla area adjoining Maharashtra and destroyed three houses before charging toward a man, identified as Santlal Mandavi (37), a local forest official said.
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The man died on the spot in the attack, he added.
Another man, Rambharose (45), of the same village went inside the jungle in the evening despite being warned. He was trampled to death by the same herd of elephants, he said.
Later, the herd moved towards nearby Piparkhar village where it destroyed a mud house, he said.
Soon after being alerted about the incidents, forest officials rushed there and sent the bodies for post-mortem, he said, adding that villagers in the area have been advised not to venture into the forest.
A team of forest personnel have been tracking the movement of the herd, he said.
Congress MLA from Mohla-Manpur constituency Indrashah Mandavi also reached the Bhiansbod on Thursday evening and directed forest officials to take measures to keep jumbos away from human habitats.
In the third incident, a 65-year-old woman, Motin Bai Nagvanshi, was trampled to death by a tusker in Sohtara village in neighboring Balod, officials said.
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Family members of each of the deceased were given an immediate aid of Rs 25,000, while the remaining compensation of Rs 5.75 lakh each will be given after the completion of formalities, they added.
Human-elephant conflicts in the state, particularly in the northern part, have been a major cause of concern for the last one decade. The menace has been gradually spreading its footprint in some districts of the central region in the last few years.
The districts that have been witnessing such incidents are Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, Gariaband, Balod, Balrampur, and Kanker.
According to the forest department, more than 210 people were killed in elephant attacks in the state in the last three years.
