Berhampur, Jan. 22: A wild elephant has trampled on and killed a 45-year-old staff member of the forest department, Bipra Pradhan, at a cashew forest in N. Gurunthi village.

The incident occurred yesterday when a group of 20 employees of the Khallikote division of the forest department were driving a stray herd of elephants away from the village.

Another forest department employee, Govind Pradhan, was injured during the incident.

Seven elephants of a herd had entered the area in the past few days and damaged crops in N. Gurunthi and nearby villages. "We had deployed 20 casual employees to drive the elephants into the nearby forest. When they reached N. Gurunthi last evening, the elephants rushed towards them. One tusker caught hold of Bipra Pradhan in its trunk and trampled him after throwing him on the ground," said Khallikote forest ranger Basant Martha.

Another elephant caught Govind with its trunk and threw him away. Govind suffered multiple injuries and was admitted to community health centre at Khallikote.

While Bipra hails from Pari Nuagaon, Govind belongs to Pana Nuagaon. The authorities have handed over Bipra's body to his family members after post-mortem.

Berhampur divisional forest officer Ashis Kumar Behera said: "We will provide compensation to the family according to the government norms."

The forest department has also intensified operations to drive out the pachyderms in the wake of Bipra's death.

Former panchayat samiti chairman Surath Pahana said that most of the elephants migrated from the Chandaka forest. "We noticed their movement at Subalaya, Palur, Potagada, Jhatipadar, Raghunathpur, Gabudi Mardakote under Ramgada and Subalaya panchayats," he said.