Tryst with wild elephants leaves six BSF personnel injured in Odisha

They were undergoing anti-Naxal training at the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary, an important elephant corridor

Six personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) sustained injuries when they crossed a herd of wild elephants during an anti-Naxal training session at the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary.

As part of the joint training session with the Special Operation Group (SOG), Odisha’s elite anti-Naxal force, the BSF personnel were at the wildlife sanctuary near here during the night on Friday. The training was meant for acclimatising the personnel to a dense forest in the dead of night.

According to sources in the BSF, the wild elephants chased BSF and SOG personnel when they encountered them. They slipped and fell as they ran from the spot. Three BSF personnel escaped with minor injuries but three others are in a critical condition. They were first rushed to the SUM Medical College and Hospital and subsequently to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar.

Situated in the outskirts of Odisha’s capital city of Bhubaneswar, the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary is an elephant corridor and important habitat for wild elephants. Elephants from Dhenkanal and Cuttack cross the Mahanadi river and migrate to southern Odisha using Chandaka as their corridor. Chandaka once used to house more than 60 elephants but now has less than 10. The SOG has set up its training campus adjacent to the sanctuary.

In the wake of worsening Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the 2000s, the BSF was deployed in Odisha in October 2010, initially in Koraput and Malkangiri districts. The BSF was later sent to Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts to contain violent LWE. The border force has established a special ops frontier headquarters near Khordha town, 45 km from Bhubaneswar.