Balasore, April 2: Panic gripped Jaleswar after three local villagers, including one woman, had suffered injuries in a tusker attack.

The victims, identified as Satyaranjan Behera, 45, of Baghabali village and Sabitiri Barik, 78, and Ruhia Marandi, 42, were shifted to district headquarters hospital here after preliminary treatment at a local hospital.

The tusker, which strayed away from the Dalma sanctuary of Jharkhand, damaged paddy crops and entered villages, causing panic among the villagers.

The forest officials with the help of local volunteers drove it away towards Danganalia in the Rasgobindapur range of Mayurbhanj.

Yesterday, as the villagers surrounded the tusker and created noise, it got agitated and began attacking people. Satyaranjan faced its wrath first when he was cutting grass in the field, said Aswani Das, a local resident and honorary wildlife warden of the district.

He said that later, the marauding elephant could be driven out of the area.

Local forest range officer Ajay Das advised the villagers not to irritate the tusker.

Divisional forest officer Harsh Bardhan Udgata said the forest department would bear the treatment cost of the injured.

“At present, the tusker is at Rasgobindapur and two teams have been deployed to keep a tab on its movement,” he said.