Elephant Rampage Causes Terror In Indian City

Two wild elephants have gone on a rampage in southern India, killing at least one person, officials say.

The elephants left a trail of destruction in a suburb of the city of Mysore, in the state of Karnataka.

Officials say the animals walked into the city from a nearby forest, leaving residents running for their lives.

Officials say that one elephant barged into a women's college compound and wandered the grounds, while the other wreaked havoc in a residential area.

Forest rangers and officials from Mysore Zoo later captured and tranquilised the animals.

A 55-year-old man who left his house in the Bamboo Bazaar area of Mysore after hearing the commotion was trampled to death, Karnataka state Higher Education Minister SA Ramdas told AFP news agency.

Mr Ramdas said schools and colleges in the city were closed throughout Wednesday and extra police had been deployed as a precaution.

State forest department officials said the young elephants came from forest about 35km (22 miles) from the city.

They say that two other elephants remain at large on the outskirts of Mysore.

One official blamed the rampage on human encroachment into areas traditionally inhabited by elephants.

'Unregulated expansion of farm lands and increasing movement of people and vehicles through the elephant corridor are making the wild jumbos enter into villages and towns in search of food and shelter,' he told AFP.

Mr Ramdas said that the two captured elephants would be released back into the wild. - BBC