Elephant kills mahout in Tripura zoo

Agartala, Nov 8 : A 50-year-old mahout was trampled to death by an elephant on Wednesday in Tripura's Sipahijala wildlife sanctuary and zoo near here, officials said.

"Khalil Mia and his colleague were nurturing two tuskers and suddenly one of them attacked the mahout. Though the mahout was taken to hospital, his life could not be saved," a sanctuary official said.

He said that the Sipahijala wildlife sanctuary and zoo authority has decided that following this incident, some additional steps would be taken after taking advice from the wildlife experts to prevent such incidents in future.

Sprawled on 18.27 square km of land, Sipahijala wildlife sanctuary and zoo, which came up in 1976, attracts thousands of tourists every year.

Sepahijala Zoo, situated in the Sepahijala Sanctuary and National Park, is one of India's 22 large zoos.