Intoxicated Elephants Kill 5 in India
Intoxicated elephants searching for rice beer rampaged through a remote settlement in India, killing five people, injuring 12 others and forcing thousands of terrified villagers to flee, an official said.
“People should stop making this liquor, as elephants are drawn by the smell,” advised Deb Roy, the state’s forestries director, after the weekend stampede through Behali village, 1,140 miles east of New Delhi in Assam state.
He said the fumes of “Lao Pani,” an alcoholic beverage made from rice that local Hindus usually brew after the first rice harvest, lured 13 elephants into the settlement of more than 2,000 inhabitants on the edge of a state forest.
Roy said villagers used firecrackers and flaming torches to try to scare away the hefty creatures, but the tactics only infuriated the beasts, who rampaged through the village.
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