2 elephants found dead in river in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh

RAIPUR: Two elephants were found dead and their carcass floating in a river in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district on Wednesday evening, prompting a forest department probe into yet another elephant fatality in the region, where five such deaths have been reported in the past four months.The carcasses were spotted floating in the Kurkut river near compartment number 1273 in the Gharghoda forest range, where a herd of around 19 elephants has been moving in recent days. Villagers alerted forest officials after noticing the two pachyderms floating in the water.A forest department team, led by Gharghoda range staff, rushed to the spot and began efforts to retrieve the bodies. One carcass, believed to be of an elephant around five years old, was pulled out of the river, while attempts were on to recover the second body located some distance away.

A team of veterinarians was present at the site. Prima facie it appears that the elephants may have died after getting trapped in slush formed by water in the river or while bathing or attempting to cross it, forest officials said no conclusion could be drawn until the post-mortem report is available.