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DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Xinhua) --
Two people, including a primary school
pupil, were killed in a village in Tanzania’s southern region of
Lindi, a local leader said on Sunday.
Hamis Kalembo, Mkoka
ward councilor, said the victims were attacked by the jumbos on
Saturday afternoon as they were searching for lost goats in
dense bush of Likwera village, where elephants have been roaming
about for over a week.
“After having found
themselves in danger, each of them started running to safety and
one of the two children ran in one direction where one of them
fell to the ground,” said Kalembo.
However, the
marauding elephants did not attack the boy that fell to the
ground and instead kept chasing after the other boy that was
running ahead and reached and killed him, said Kalembo.
The local leader
added that after having killed the boy the elephants started to
attack another villager and crushed him to death.
Nachingwea District
Commissioner Rukia Muwango confirmed the incident, saying game
wardens have been sent to the scene to drive away the elephants.
Lindi Regional
Police Commander Renata Mzinga said the game wardens were still
searching for the elephants. They are to drive them back to
nearby Selous Game Reserve.
The previous
elephant attack on humans occurred Thursday, when a 25-year-old
grape farmer was trampled to death by a stray elephant in
Tanzania’s central district of Chamwino, 187 km from the
country’s capital, Dodoma.
In June, two farmers
in Singida were killed by a herd of 32 elephants.
In May, four
elephants roamed the University of Dodoma campus, bringing the
university to a standstill. Park rangers were called in and the
elephants were eventually scared off.
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EARLIER REPORT:
Stray elephant kills grape
farmer in Tanzania
ARUSHA Tanzania (Xinhua) --
A grape farmer was trampled to death by a stray
wild elephant in Tanzania’s central district of Chamwino, police
said on Friday.
Ernest Kimola,
acting Dodoma Regional Police Commander, said the elephant might
have been strayed from Ruaha National Park or Kizigo Game
Reserve as the affected village is close to the two sanctuaries.
He said the
25-year-old man was attacked by an elephant when he was
preparing a grape farm in the area located 187 kilometers from
Tanzania’s capital Dodoma.
He said that
incident occurred on Thursday at around 9 a.m. when the man was
busy digging canals in his grape farm. Dodoma is the only region
growing grapes in the east African nation and this time around
people are busy preparing new farms for the lucrative crop.
Another villager was
badly injured and has been hospitalized at the Mvumi Mission
Hospital for treatment.
The regional police
chief said that wildlife rangers have been sent into the
affected village to chase the strayed elephant into the
wilderness.
Peter Songoro,
medical doctor in-charge of Mvumi Mission Hospital, said the
injured man had already undergone surgeries, as one of his legs
and ribs were broken.
One of the
eyewitnesses, Silvester Kwanga, said that the elephant landed in
the village at around 9 a.m., when people were busy with their
farming activities.
According to Kwanga,
the elephant disappeared into the wilderness soon after the
incident.
The tragedy came
barely few weeks when villagers in central Tanzania’s district
of Bahi were reported to have been living in fear following the
frequent invasion of wild elephants.
In May, four
elephants roamed the University of Dodoma campus, bringing the
university to a standstill for the day. Tanzania National Parks
(TANAPA) rangers were called in and the elephants were
eventually scared off.
In June, elephants
in Arusha destroyed 43 hectares of crops. Also that month, two
farmers in Singida were killed by a herd of 32 elephants. |
