MALAPPURAM: A 52-year-old woman, belonging to the Kattunayakan tribal community, was killed in a wild elephant attack on Wednesday. The deceased is Sarojini, alias Neeli, of Uchakulam tribal village. Her family lives on the forest boundary.

Sarojini and three other women from her neighbourhood went to the forest side to collect forest resources and graze the goats in the morning. “There was a group of four wild elephants, including a tusker, a female elephant and baby elephants. We did not notice the tusker charging at us. When we saw the elephant nearby, the four of us ran in different directions. Sarojini got in front of the herd of elephants and was attacked by the tusker. We saw her lying dead only after the elephants had left,” said Ammini, her neighbour. Sarojini died on the spot.

Sarojini was first taken to the Nilambur District Hospital. Later, the residents staged a protest and refused to release the body for postmortem procedures. The authorities assured the Uchakulam residents that a compound wall be built around their habitat for protection from wild animals. They also assured the residents that trenching works and fencing will be completed at the forest boundary soon.

Once the residents released the body, it was taken to Manjeri Medical College Hospital. The funeral will be held on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the SDPI has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Nilambur on Thursday. “Humans should be protected from wild animals. We appeal to the public to cooperate with the hartal being held to protest the authorities’ apathy,” said SDPI Nilambur constituency president N Mujeeb. The UDF and BJP leaders had come out in protest, demanding that the safety of the residents of the area be ensured.

On January 4, Mani, a 35-year-old ST youth, also died in elephant attack at Karulayi in the district. His death had sparked a huge protest in the area and a march to the DFO’s office, led by former MLA P V Anwar was held, leading to his arrest.