Wild Elephants Kill Three, Injure 10

February 11, 2002 8:31 am EST

COX'S BAZAR (Reuters) - Rampaging wild elephants trampled to death three Bangladeshis and injured 10 in the country's southeastern forest region, officials said on Sunday.

"Two of the victims died Friday and the other Saturday when herds of elephants stormed two farming villages near a forest at Ukhia, 450 km (281 miles) from Dhaka," said Matiur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar district.

He said the elephants destroyed nearly 15 straw and bamboo-made houses, leaving some 100 people homeless.

Elephants, a protected wildlife species in Bangladesh, often make forays into villages, mostly at night, to look for food. They also damage crops, police said.

Forest officials said they believed the elephants strayed out of the forests when disturbed by illegal loggers.

Wild elephants killed some 40 people last year in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Chittagong Hill Tracts bordering Myanmar and India's Tripura state, police said.

They said the death toll so far this year was three.

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