In what is being described as an accident by the authorities,a 62-year-old tourist from Netherlands was trampled to death by a wild elephant inside the Kaziranga National Park on Tuesday. The tourist has been identified as Robert Goldbach. A group of nine tourists who were trekking inside the Panbari reserved forest under Kaziranga came face to face with a lone tusk-less elephant which trampled one of them to death,park director SN Buragohain said. Though Panbari is known for the presence of elephants,there is no history of animal attacks, he said. Meanwhile,Mridul Mahanta,Sub-Divisional Officer Bokakhat,who conducted a preliminary inquiry into the incident,said the lone forest guard accompanying the group had warned the tourists not to trek deep into the forest,but they did not heed his advice. While forest guard Subhash Senapati fired three rounds in the air to scare away the elephant,the tourists broke into two groups of six and two members and ran to safety. Goldbach probably was still trying to take pictures of the elephant, he said.
