Elephants kill two people in Bauchi

Two people were reported killed by elephants at a village outside the famous Yankari Games Reserve in Bauchi State.

Confirming the incident yesterday, the sole administrator of the games reserve, Habu Mamman, said it happened near Bajama village located close to the reserve on July 8.

“Tradegy struck when the elephants got charged and scattered the crowd, and the villagers ran for safety, but as a result, they pushed down a 9-year-boy, Fa’izu Chiroma Musa, who was trampled by one of the elephants. He died on the spot around 10am,”he said.

He said a 45-yearold man, Haruna Abubakar, who was trying to take a snap, was also killed by the other elephant around 4pm.

“It took our rangers some hours to control the crowd who kept on following the elephants before they could chase back the elephants into the reserve.

“Normally, the rangers are able to provide rapid intervention and chase the elephants back into the reserve when they go out, but this case was difficult because the villagers were very excited and wanted to go close and touch the elephants,” he said.

Mamman quoted most of the villagers as saying that it was their first time of seeing elephants.

He said Governor Mohammed Abubakar sent a delegation to condole with the families of the victims.