Moment out-of-control elephants turn on their handlers and trample crowd at Indian festival
The male elephant was part of an 18 animal strong procession for the Rath Yatra celebrations through Khadia, an area in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, when it appears to have become spooked.
The colourfully dressed creature seems to be looking for a way out from the busy streets when he storms away from its handlers and charges towards a crowd pressed up against some railings.
Several terrified people get caught under the elephant's feet and the collapsing railing as the huge animal bulldozes through, waving its tusks.
Dozens rush to help the squashed festival-goers once the creature makes its way further down the street, two more elephants in tow.
RK Sahu, Superintendent of the Kamla Nehru Zoological Garden told The Times of India: 'Following protocol, the elephant was immediately given a tranquiliser injection.
'Two female elephants were used to gently herd him away from the crowd, in line with our standard safety strategy.'
The Indian outlet reported that no one was injured and the alarmed crowd was able to be brought back under control.
They added that the elephant was the only male in the procession and will not be re-joining the troop.
Around 100 people in India are killed each year by elephants, though the number can be as high as 300, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Rath Yatra is an annual festival which sees a procession make its way through the streets to celebrate three Hindu deities.
Chariots are traditionally used as well as elephants and decorated trucks make up the 14 kilometre long procession.
Two years ago, a person died during the festival after the balcony they were standing on collapsed.
More than 20 people were standing on the veranda watching the procession when Mehul Panchal was killed from the fall.
Among the injured were three children.
In 2022, Maya Murmu, 70, was trampled to death by an elephant when she was out collecting water in Raipal village, Eastern India when the escaped elephant came out of nowhere.
She later died in hospital of her injuries, Rasgovindpur police station inspector Lopamudra Nayak said.
Then that evening the elephant returned as the 70-year-old's body lay on top of her funeral pyre.
It took her body down, trampled her again, threw her around and went off into the night, according to the Press Trust of India.
The elephant is believed to have travelled from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary in the state of Jharkhand, 200km away from Raipal in Odisha state, Mayurbhanj district.
According to local reports, the Independent said, the second trampling happened while Ms Murmu's family were performing last rites.
It is now known if anyone else was harmed but the family did go ahead with the ceremony after the elephant left.
The year before that, a 30-year-old man was filmed running for his life after a wild elephant charged at him in Assam, north-eastern India.
After tripping and falling in the paddy field, the man lies helplessly on the ground as the charging elephant closes the gap between them.
The man tries to get back up again, but within moments the pachyderm is upon him, goring him with its tusks and trampling him with a frightening ferocity.
Meanwhile, onlookers record the brutal encounter on their phones in terror.
The injured man was rushed to safety while the forest officials chased the jumbo back towards the forest cover.
India Today reported the man was 'severely injured' although still alive.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Grieving British mother of Air India crash victim tells of her agony after being sent the WRONG body
A grieving mother whose son died in the Air India plane disaster travelled thousands of miles to collect his remains - only to be sent home with the wrong body. Amanda Donaghey lost her son Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband, Jamie, 45, when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick crashed just seconds after takeoff on June 12 - claiming the lives of 260 people. The couple had been returning to Britain after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India when the plane unexpectedly crashed, killing all but one passenger onboard. The aircraft had turned into a huge fireball on impact but Ms Donaghey, 66, was determined to bring back her son's remains, handing over a sample of her blood in a bid to find matching DNA, The Sunday Times reports. Things did not look promising, however, and three days came and went without a word from officials handling the bodies. In the meantime, Jamie's remains were identified and sent home to the UK. But just as the mother was losing hope, they got back to her with news that there had been a 'match' for Fiongal. Ms Donaghey was relieved - the discovery meant she could bring her son's remains back and lay them next to his husband's. The family set about organising funerals for the two men with the mother assured on her return to the UK that Fiongal's remains were in the casket. Then, a heartbreaking development. The British coroner had conducted another DNA test which found that the remains in her son's coffin were not his after all. Ms Donaghey said that the identity of the remains is still unknown, describing the confusion as 'appalling'. Fiongal studied at the Royal College of Art and went on to work as a fashion designer, fronting design houses in London and Asia. He then got into sprituality, yoga and reiki and established the Wellness Foundry, dedicated to such topics, in 2018. The business founder married Jamie in 2022 and had taken to social media to describe their 'magical experience' in India the night before they caught the fateful flight. They even posted a short clip from the airport departure lounge just hours ahead of the journey back, which would see them sit in seats 22A and 22B, bidding farewell to the country. His mother was not aware he was on the plane, believing Fiongal to have flown back to the UK two days prior. After taking a ride on her horse, she got a phone call from Fiongal's father who told her the pair had been travelling back on the aircraft. Two days later, Ms Donaghey took a tricky trip to India from her home in the south of France, where she had moved 22 years ago. She was greeted by a British High Commission crisis management team on her arrival in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Despite being exhausted, the mother headed straight to the nearby Civil Hospital to take a DNA test in a converted classroom. Ms Donaghey then paid a visit BJ Medical College hostel, which had been hit by the Air India plane, but was not allowed to go through the final cordon as the aircraft's tail was still lodged in a building there. 'It was like a bomb site,' she said. 'You would think it was from a war scene, but there were still these small birds twittering.' Also out there was Miten Patel who was determined to bring home his parents Ashok and Shobhana, who had been married since the 70s. The financial advisor and retired microbiologist had been in the country for a yatra, a religious visit geared towards helping people to find peace when they die. Ashok and Shobhana, pictured, had been married since the 70s and were in the country for a yatra, a religious visit geared towards helping people to find peace when they die Mr Patel was handed several of his parents' items including Ashok's shirt and Shobhana's swan necklace. After successfully retrieving the couple's remains, he later discovered 'other remains' in the casket said to contain his mother's body. He was finally able to bury her last week, describing the successful end to the process as a 'miracle'. Ms Donaghey has been going through a similar ordeal, but one that remains unresolved. After initially being informed of the 'match' on June 20, she spoke with the British High Commission and hospital representatives, as well as an Avon and Somerset Police officer, acting as a disaster victim investigator. She said: 'I was told they had found part of Fiongal but not all of him. I said I wanted to stay until they had finished looking.' But on her return to the crash site, Ms Donaghey was handed the devastating news that there was nothing left to be found in the wreckage. Things took an even more concerning turn when she was told about Shobhana's case, which had seen various remains get mixed up. On June 28, she headed back to Gatwick on an Air India flight in a bid to get Fiongal's remains to a British hospital with better preserving standards than those in India. They were handed over to Dr Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, and in the meantime Ms Donaghey was given support by her sister in Cambridgeshire, as well as police family liaison officers. Six days after her return, the mother was handed the heart-wrenching news that the remains in her son's coffin were not his at all. At a meeting attended by Fiongal's father, sister and brother, family liaison officers said: 'We don't have Fiongal. We have carried out the DNA tests and we do not have Fiongal.' Amanda said: 'I had my doubts but to be told that was heartbreaking.' Despite realising that their ambition to bury Fiongal and Jamie alongside one another was now impossible, Ms Donaghey and her family have not given up on trying to locate his remains, ringing the Foreign Office each day looking for answers. Some 53 of the 242 people on the ill-fated flight were British but, as many were of Indian heritage and thus buried in the country of the crash, just 12 sets of remains were delivered back to the UK. The remaining 10 were all matches, but it is still not known for sure whether the identities of the bodies that stayed in India are correct. James Healy-Pratt, an international aviation lawyer and partner with Keystone Law, is representing 20 bereaved families and confirmed they were in contact with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister's office and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. A government spokesperson said: 'We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them. Formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities. 'We continue to liaise with the government of Gujarat and the government of India on behalf of the Inner West London senior coroner to support the coronial process.'
BBC News
4 days ago
- BBC News
Keeladi: The ancient site that has become a political flashpoint in India
The Keeladi village in India's southern Tamil Nadu state has unearthed archeological finds that have sparked a political and historical coconut groves, a series of 15ft (4.5m) deep trenches reveal ancient artefacts buried in layers of soil - fragments of terracotta pots, and traces of long-lost brick from the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology estimate the artefacts to be 2,000 to 2,500 years old, with the oldest dating back to around 580 BCE. They say these findings challenge and reshape existing narratives about early civilisation in the Indian politicians, historians, and epigraphists weighing in, Keeladi has moved beyond archaeology, becoming a symbol of state pride and identity amid competing historical history enthusiasts say it remains one of modern India's most compelling and accessible discoveries - offering a rare opportunity to deepen our understanding of a shared a village 12km (7 miles) from Madurai on the banks of the Vaigai river, was one of 100 sites shortlisted for excavation by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishnan in 2013. He selected a 100-acre site there because of its proximity to ancient Madurai and the earlier discovery of red-and-black pottery ware by a schoolteacher in 1975. Since 2014, 10 excavation rounds at Keeladi have uncovered over 15,000 artefacts - burial urns, coins, beads, terracotta pipes and more - from just four of the 100 marked acres. Many are now displayed in a nearby Kumar, leading the state archaeology team at Keeladi, says the key finds are elaborate brick structures and water systems - evidence of a 2,500-year-old urban settlement."This was a literate, urban society where people had separate spaces for habitation, burial practices and industrial work," Mr Kumar says, noting it's the first large, well-defined ancient urban settlement found in southern the Indus Valley Civilisation's discovery in the early 1900s, most efforts to trace civilisation's origins in the subcontinent have focused on northern and central the Keeladi finds have sparked excitement across Tamil Nadu and Daniel, a teacher from neighbouring Kerala, said the discoveries made him feel proud about his heritage."It gives people from the south [of India] something to feel proud about, that our civilisation is just as ancient and important as the one in the north [of India]," he says. The politics surrounding Keeladi reflects a deep-rooted north-south divide - underscoring how understanding the present requires grappling with the first major civilisation - the Indus Valley - emerged in the north and central regions between 3300 and 1300 BCE. After its decline, a second urban phase, the Vedic period, rose in the Gangetic plains, lasting until the 6th Century phase saw major cities, powerful kingdoms and the rise of Vedic culture - a foundation for Hinduism. As a result, urbanisation in ancient India is often viewed as a northern phenomenon, with a dominant narrative that the northern Aryans "civilised" the Dravidian is especially evident in the mainstream understanding of the spread of literacy. It is believed that the Ashokan Brahmi script - found on Mauryan king Ashoka's rock edicts in northern and central India, dating back to the 3rd Century BCE - is the predecessor of most scripts in South and Southeast like Iravatham Mahadevan and Y Subbarayalu have long held the view that the Tamil Brahmi script - the Tamil language spoken in Tamil Nadu and written in the Brahmi script - was an offshoot of the Ashokan Brahmi now, archaeologists from the Tamil Nadu state department say that the excavations at Keeladi are challenging this narrative."We have found graffiti in the Tamil Brahmi script dating back to the 6th Century BCE, which shows that it is older than the Ashokan Brahmi script. We believe that both scripts developed independently and, perhaps, emerged from the Indus Valley script," Mr Kumar says. Epigraphist S Rajavelu, former professor of marine archaeology at the Tamil University, agrees with Mr Kumar and says other excavation sites in the state too have unearthed graffiti in the Tamil Brahmi script dating back to the 5th and 4th Century some experts say that more research and evidence are needed to conclusively prove the antiquity of the Tamil Brahmi claim by the state department of archaeology that has ruffled feathers is that the graffiti found on artefacts in Keeladi is similar to that found in the Indus Valley sites."People from the Indus Valley may have migrated to the south, leading to a period of urbanisation taking place in Keeladi at the same time it was taking place in the Gangetic plains," Mr Kumar says, adding that further excavations are needed to fully grasp the settlement's Ajit Kumar, a professor of archaeology at Nalanda University in Bihar, says that this wouldn't have been possible."Considering the rudimentary state of travel back then, people from the Indus Valley would not have been able to migrate to the south in such large numbers to set up civilisation," he says. He believes the finds in Keeladi can be likened to a small "settlement". While archaeologists debate the findings, politicians are already drawing links between Keeladi and the Indus Valley - some even claim the two existed at the same time or that the Indus Valley was part of an early southern Indian, or Dravidian, controversy over ASI archaeologist Mr Ramakrishnan's transfer - who led the Keeladi excavations - has intensified the site's political 2017, after two excavation rounds, the ASI transferred Mr Ramakrishnan, citing protocol. The Tamil Nadu government accused the federal agency of deliberately hindering the digs to undermine Tamil ASI's request in 2023 for Mr Ramakrishnan to revise his Keeladi report - citing a lack of scientific rigour - has intensified the controversy. He refused, insisting his findings followed standard archaeological June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin called the federal government's refusal to publish Mr Ramakrishnan's report an "onslaught on Tamil culture and pride". State minister Thangam Thennarasu accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal government of deliberately suppressing information to erase Tamilian Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has now clarified that Mr Ramakrishnan's report has not been rejected by the ASI but is "under review," with expert feedback yet to be finalised. Back at the the Keeladi museum, children explore exhibits during a school visit while construction continues outside to create an open-air museum at the excavation Sowmiya Ashok, author of an upcoming book on Keeladi, recalls the thrill of her first visit."Uncovering history is a journey to better understand our shared past. Through small clues - like carnelian beads from the northwest or Roman copper coins - Keeladi reveals that our ancestors were far more connected than we realise," she says. "The divisions we see today are shaped more by the present than by history."
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Grieving mother of Air India crash victim is dealt agonising blow after being sent the WRONG body
A grieving mother whose son died in the Air India plane disaster travelled thousands of miles to collect his remains - only to be sent home with the wrong body. Amanda Donaghey lost her son Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek, 39, and his husband, Jamie, 45, when the Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick crashed just seconds after takeoff on June 12 - claiming the lives of 260 people. The couple had been returning to Britain after celebrating their wedding anniversary in India when the plane unexpectedly crashed, killing all but one passenger onboard. The aircraft had turned into a huge fireball on impact but Ms Donaghey, 66, was determined to bring back her son's remains, handing over a sample of her blood in a bid to find matching DNA, The Sunday Times reports. Things did not look promising, however, and three days came and went without a word from officials handling the bodies. In the meantime, Jamie's remains were identified and sent home to the UK. But just as the mother was losing hope, they got back to her with news that there had been a 'match' for Fiongal. Ms Donaghey was relieved - the discovery meant she could bring her son's remains back and lay them next to his husband's. The family set about organising funerals for the two men with the mother assured on her return to the UK that Fiongal's remains were in the casket. Then, a heartbreaking development. The British coroner had conducted another DNA test which found that the remains in her son's coffin were not his after all. Ms Donaghey said that the identity of the remains is still unknown, describing the confusion as 'appalling'. Fiongal studied at the Royal College of Art and went on to work as a fashion designer, fronting design houses in London and Asia. He then got into sprituality, yoga and reiki and established the Wellness Foundry, dedicated to such topics, in 2018. The business founder married Jamie in 2022 and had taken to social media to describe their 'magical experience' in India the night before they caught the fateful flight. They even posted a short clip from the airport departure lounge just hours ahead of the journey back, which would see them sit in seats 22A and 22B, bidding farewell to the country. His mother was not aware he was on the plane, believing Fiongal to have flown back to the UK two days prior. After taking a ride on her horse, she got a phone call from Fiongal's father who told her the pair had been travelling back on the aircraft. Two days later, Ms Donaghey took a tricky trip to India from her home in the south of France, where she had moved 22 years ago. She was greeted by a British High Commission crisis management team on her arrival in Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Despite being exhausted, the mother headed straight to the nearby Civil Hospital to take a DNA test in a converted classroom. Ms Donaghey then paid a visit BJ Medical College hostel, which had been hit by the Air India plane, but was not allowed to go through the final cordon as the aircraft's tail was still lodged in a building there. 'It was like a bomb site,' she said. 'You would think it was from a war scene, but there were still these small birds twittering.' Also out there was Miten Patel who was determined to bring home his parents Ashok and Shobhana, who had been married since the 70s. The financial advisor and retired microbiologist had been in the country for a yatra, a religious visit geared towards helping people to find peace when they die. Ashok and Shobhana, pictured, had been married since the 70s and were in the country for a yatra, a religious visit geared towards helping people to find peace when they die Mr Patel was handed several of his parents' items including Ashok's shirt and Shobhana's swan necklace. After successfully retrieving the couple's remains, he later discovered 'other remains' in the casket said to contain his mother's body. He was finally able to bury her last week, describing the successful end to the process as a 'miracle'. Ms Donaghey has been going through a similar ordeal, but one that remains unresolved. After initially being informed of the 'match' on June 20, she spoke with the British High Commission and hospital representatives, as well as an Avon and Somerset Police officer, acting as a disaster victim investigator. She said: 'I was told they had found part of Fiongal but not all of him. I said I wanted to stay until they had finished looking.' But on her return to the crash site, Ms Donaghey was handed the devastating news that there was nothing left to be found in the wreckage. Things took an even more concerning turn when she was told about Shobhana's case, which had seen various remains get mixed up. On June 28, she headed back to Gatwick on an Air India flight in a bid to get Fiongal's remains to a British hospital with better preserving standards than those in India. They were handed over to Dr Fiona Wilcox, senior coroner for Inner West London, and in the meantime Ms Donaghey was given support by her sister in Cambridgeshire, as well as police family liaison officers. Six days after her return, the mother was handed the heart-wrenching news that the remains in her son's coffin were not his at all. At a meeting attended by Fiongal's father, sister and brother, family liaison officers said: 'We don't have Fiongal. We have carried out the DNA tests and we do not have Fiongal.' Amanda said: 'I had my doubts but to be told that was heartbreaking.' Despite realising that their ambition to bury Fiongal and Jamie alongside one another was now impossible, Ms Donaghey and her family have not given up on trying to locate his remains, ringing the Foreign Office each day looking for answers. Some 53 of the 242 people on the ill-fated flight were British but, as many were of Indian heritage and thus buried in the country of the crash, just 12 sets of remains were delivered back to the UK. The remaining 10 were all matches, but it is still not known for sure whether the identities of the bodies that stayed in India are correct. James Healy-Pratt, an international aviation lawyer and partner with Keystone Law, is representing 20 bereaved families and confirmed they were in contact with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister's office and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. A government spokesperson said: 'We understand that this is an extremely distressing time for the families, and our thoughts remain with them. Formal identification of bodies is a matter for the Indian authorities. 'We continue to liaise with the government of Gujarat and the government of India on behalf of the Inner West London senior coroner to support the coronial process.'
