3 dead at Kerala temple after 2 jumbos run amok

A local municipal councillor said that the elephants brought the temple for festival suddenly became agitated allegedly after hearing the loud sounds of firecrackers

At least three people, including two women, were killed and 24 others were injured in a commotion after two captive elephants, who were brought for a temple festival, ran amok allegedly after bursting of crackers near Koyilandy at Kozhikode district in Kerala on Thursday, officials aware of the matter said.

A grab of a video that purportedly shows one elephant charging at the other on Thursday. (HT Photo)

The incident took place on the last day of the annual festival on the premises of the Manakkulangara Bhagavathy temple in Kuravangad, they added.

“The elephants brought for the festival suddenly ran amok allegedly after hearing the loud sounds of firecrackers,” said Rajeesh, a local municipal councillor.

“The incident took place around 6pm. The elephants were displayed for the ‘seeveli’ or evening procession when suddenly after hearing the sound of the firecrackers, one of them became aggressive and pushed the other elephant with its tusks. There was a brief scuffle between the two elephants and many people were pushed to the ground during the commotion. A temporary festival office that was erected also collapsed as the elephants pushed each other around,” the councillor said.

He said it is not clear if the three people were trampled to death by the elephants or were killed in a possible stampede. “Many have been grievously injured,” he said.

Visuals of the incident captured on cellphones purportedly showed that one elephant pushed the other with its tusks, which also led to the collapse of the temporary festival office structure. The visuals also showed the tuskers running away from the festival venue.

Officials said that the two elephants were brought under control soon after.

Koyilandy MLA Kanathil Jameela told the media, “It seems that most of the injured were those who fell during the commotion and got kicked upon. Those who were atop the two elephants also fell onto the ground and sustained injuries. Of the 24 injured people, those with minor injuries are at the taluk hospital and the rest with serious injuries at the Kozhikode Medical College hospital. A 10-year-old girl is among those injured.”

She said that prima facie the elephants got triggered by the sound of the crackers and became aggressive.

“We are routinely hearing of such issues caused by elephants at other temples too. At this moment, we cannot say if all the rules and guidelines were followed. There is a tendency anyway to violate guidelines at such festivals,” she said.

The incident in Koyilandy came just 10 days after a 38-year-old was killed by a captive elephant that went berserk at a temple festival at Chittattukara in Thrissur district. On February 6, a mahout was trampled to death by an elephant following a ceremony at a mosque near Kootanad in Palakkad district.

As per the data submitted to the high court by the state’s forest department in August last year, Kerala has 388 captive elephants, out of which 349 are under ownership of private people and the rest under the care of the forest department. A majority of the elephants under private care are routinely employed as part of procession for religious festivals. Hindu temple committees claimed that the use of elephants in processions is “part of age-old traditions”. However, incidents of unruly elephants running amok and their torture by mahouts during festivals are routinely reported.

Last year, a high court bench had come out with detailed guidelines on the display of captive elephants in religious festivals across the state. The court mandated a three-metre gap between elephants, a ban on processions on public roads between 9am and 5pm and a minimum of eight hours of rest in a day for the elephants. It also said there should be 100-metre gap between the area where the elephants are displayed and where the public stand.

However, two major temple administration boards in Thrissur challenged the high court’s directions in the Supreme Court, claiming that the guidelines will lead to temple festivals grinding to a halt.

On December 19 last year, the top court stayed the high court’s directions, granting relief to the temple festival organisers.