DE News Desk :
Two men lost their lives in separate incidents involving wild elephants in Jhenaigati upazila of Sherpur district on Tuesday night.
The victims were identified as Azizur Rahman Akash, 38, a rickshaw-van puller from Gandhigaon village, and Ephilice Hagidak, 52, an autorickshaw driver from the Gojni area.
According to locals and police, a herd of 20 to 30 wild elephants entered the Darbeshtola area around 9:00 PM. In an attempt to protect their homes and farmland, residents tried to drive the animals away using sticks.
During the chaos, Akash reportedly got too close to one of the elephants, which grabbed him with its trunk and trampled him. He was rushed to the Jhenaigati Upazila Health Complex, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.
“His face and abdomen were crushed,” said Dr Amiya Jyoti Saifullah, the attending physician at the health complex.
About an hour later, Ephilice was returning home with three passengers when their autorickshaw encountered the elephant herd blocking the road in the Gojni area. While the others managed to escape, Ephilice was caught by one of the elephants and fatally thrown with its trunk.
Jhenaigati Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md Al-Amin confirmed the fatalities and said preparations were underway to file two unnatural death cases in connection with the incidents.
Human-elephant conflicts have become increasingly common in the region, where shrinking forest cover and habitat loss continue to drive wild elephants into human settlements in search of food and space.