Kerala - Alappuzha   

Mahout succumbs to injuries

ALAPPUZHA: A mahout died due to injuries sustained when his elephant accidentally knocked him over at the Shubananda Ashram at Cherukol near Mavelikara here on Wednesday.

The Mannar police said Gopalakrishnan, 55, was knocked over by the elephant when he was walking alongside the pachyderm at around 10 a.m. just before the ‘Janma Nakshatra’ festival at the ashram began.

The elephant, which got scared, tried to gore the unconscious Gopalakrishnan. But onlookers pulled him away to safety before he suffered any further injuries, the police said.

However, the injuries that he sustained in the fall were fatal enough and Gopalakrishnan, who was the first mahout of the elephant, succumbed to the injuries a couple of hours later at the Mavelikara Government Hospital, Mannar Sub-Inspector Jose Mathew said.

The body of Gopalakrishnan, of Maya Bhavanam in Ennakkadu, Mavelikara, is kept at the government hospital morgue.

The police registered a case against the festival organisers and Rajan Mangattu of Mavelikara, owner of the elephant.

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