Elephant dies after coming in contact with live wire in Odisha

A female elephant died after coming in contact with a live wire in Sundargarh, Odisha officials said on Monday.

Divisional Forest Officer (Rourkela), Sanjeet Kumar, said the elephant was electrocuted after an 11 KV electric pole collapsed bringing down the wire,  just as a herd of about 12 elephants were passing through the banks of  the river Koel on Sunday night.

On the way, adjacent to the jungle, there are electric poles under Rajeev Gandhi Rural Electrification programme. "The elephants probably tried to scratch their bodies at the poles and one of these broke under the impact. The broken portion was hanging at a height of around 8-10 feet bringing down the live wires. The elephant came in contact with the live wires and died," said Kumar.

The elephants have been roaming in the vicinity for the past 15 days. Kumar said the incident occurred when the herd came out of the jungle and were moving towards Kacharu village also in Odisha.