Four people including journalist killed in accident, one missing
An incident of the death of a journalist of a local news channel has come to light while trying to rescue an elephant trapped in a river in Mundli Pul area of Cuttack district of Odisha. Four people died in the entire accident while one rescue worker is still missing. In this incident made on Friday, the elephant was trapped in the ‘Mahanadi’ flowing through Cuttack. To save this elephant, a total of 80 forest officers and members of the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force started a massive operation to save it.
The boat of the aid team, which went to the river to help the elephant, was overturned due to the heavy flow of water. Four people were killed when the boat capsized. During this, a journalist of the local news channel who was showing the live feed of the incident also lost his life. The journalist has been identified as Arindam Das. Apart from this, the condition of the cameraman present with him is also very serious.
According to forest officials, 17 elephants were crossing the river simultaneously. But due to the strong flow of water, 10 elephants were trapped in the river. Although the other elephants had left till Friday, three elephants were still trapped in the river. Two of these elephants were successful in crossing the river. When the elephant was crossing the bridge alone. The elephant was stuck in the river for more than 6 hours and still had to cross a gap of 20 meters to reach the bank of the river. Sangram Mohanty, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Daka Division said that the other elephants had crossed the river safely, but this one was still trapped.
The flow of water in the river was very high due to rain. Due to this the elephant was tired in the river. However, everyone is involved in the rescue operation to save him. Mohanty said that to save the elephant, he laid a net all around. After some time the elephant himself showed courage and tried to cross the river by walking himself.