Tourists escape elephant attack on Gudalur road in the Nilgiris

COIMBATORE: Tourists escaped narrowly after a wild elephant attacked their car on Gudalur road in the Nilgiris on Tuesday night.

Two adult elephants with their calf were annoyed as they couldn’t cross the road due to the movement of vehicles on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala inter-state border of ‘keel nadugani’ in Gudalur.

The visibly disturbed elephants, while crossing the road, began to charge on a car stopped by the occupants to watch the animals.

As the elephant began to attack, the tourists sped away from the vehicle and escaped from further attack. The video of the incident, taken on a mobile phone by other tourists, was been shared on social media.

The forest department has cautioned tourists to be cautious due to the movement of wild elephants on the Gudalur- Kerala ghat road. In a similar advisory, the tourists were asked to exercise caution on Coonoor-Mettupalayam Road due to the movement of elephants.

A herd of more than ten elephants is camping on the Coonoor Ghat road as they were lured by the start of the jackfruit-bearing season in trees along the way.

On Wednesday, an adult elephant with its two calves was spotted crossing the road near KNR Nagar.

The forest department personnel stopped traffic on both sides of the road to facilitate a hassle-free movement of elephants. After the elephants crossed the road, the vehicles were allowed to go.