Chankanga man killed by elephant

—A 51-year-old man of Chankanga Village of Nabwalya chiefdom of Mpika District in Muchinga Province has been killed by an elephant.

The incident happened last week on Tuesday around 01:00 hours when the elephant broke the house of Robert Ndavoka who was sleeping in his grass-thatched house with his family.

An eye-witness, Amon Banda, told ZANIS that the day before Robert’s death, three people escaped death from the same elephant which tried to sweep them out of their bicycles but managed to run away leaving their goods and bicycles in the bush.

Mr Banda said in the early hours of Tuesday, he just heard people from the neighbourhood shouting for help and when he went outside, he saw a vicious elephant breaking the walls of Mr Ndavoka’s house but he initially managed to escape using the broken window and ran into the nearby bush.

Mr Banda explained that the Ndavoka family managed to escape the elephants that went on rampage destroying other houses in the same village as people were made to scamper for refuge on the banks of Mupamadzi River.

Mr Banda said the victim decided to go back home to check on his family and while he was busy helping the wife to get out of the house, the vicious elephant advanced towards him and ran after him in the nearby bush where he was killed by the jumbo.

The helpless man could not manage to run way from the elephant which started trampling upon him until he died.

The villagers who went searching for Mr Ndavoka found his body in a deformed shape and was buried in the bush as they could not manage to wait for the coffin for fear that the elephants might go back to the village.

The matter was later reported to the ZAWA village scout of Chibindi camp who went and managed to kill the vicious elephant and surrendered it to the bereaved family.