Bhubaneswar, Jan. 10: An elephant killed a four-year old girl at a village near Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district.

The sighting of elephants near the boundary of Bharatpur Reserve Forest on the city outskirts near Rental Colony drew a large number of onlookers.

Hundreds people stopped on the Rental Colony-Kalinga Studio Road to have a look at a herd of elephants inside the Bharatpur Reserve Forest, part of the Chandaka Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary, as the former shares its boundary with the city near the region.

Divisional forest officer of the sanctuary Akshaya Patnaik said: “The herd of elephants, 13 in number, is still inside the sanctuary territory. Usually, elephants come to this stretch searching for bamboo leaves and shoots. But this time, the herd was bigger and came closer to the city. As a result, the elephants drew attention of the people on the nearby road. Usually elephants come to the stretch and return back to forest after staying for a while.”

“The herd is inside the forest and we are closely monitoring their movement. We are also ready with the squad that has the expertise to drive away elephants into the forest,’’ he added.

The presence of 13 elephants on the fringe area of the sanctuary limits has frightened the locals of the Rental Colony, Jagannath Vihar, Baramunda, Bharatpur, Jokalandi, Regional Plant Resource Centre (RPRC) and Ekamravilla. Last year, a herd of elephants remained sheltered inside the RPRC premises prompting the authorities to issue a notice for the public not to venture into the park area, which is popularly called as Ekamrakanan. The RPRC authorities even had to upgrade their solar-powered fencing system to keep the elephants away.

Sanghamitra Nayak, professor and head of biotechnology department at Sikshya-o-Anusandhan University, said: “While coming from my institute around 6.15pm in the evening, I saw two elephants near the sanctuary border. Hundreds of people were watching the herd.’’

Another employee of the university, Upendra Behera, who also takes the same route to return to his house in the city, said: “The people were discussing about the elephants and their movements. The news regarding death of a girl child near Kamakshyanagar might have added to their fears.’’

The deceased was identified as Surekha. Forest ranger H. Panda, who rushed to the spot, said: “The elephant attacked the mother, snatched away the child from her and killed her. However, while running for cover, the mother and another baby were also injured. The forest department has given Rs 10,000 now. After the post-mortem report is prepared, the department would release another Rs 90,000 to the family.’’