Two captive elephants ran amok at a temple in Kerala’s Kozhikode, killing three persons and injuring nearly 30 of the assembled devotees on Thursday. The tragedy unfolded on the fifth and final day of the annual festival at Manakkulangara Bhagavathi temple at Kuruvangad, run by Malabar Devaswom Board.
According to Kozhikode rural police chief K E Baiju, the elephants were being readied for the ritualistic procession when one of them got agitated by the noise of firecrackers, and jabbed the second elephant standing nearby. The two elephants then fought each other, causing panic. One of them subsequently ran into the temple committee office, a portion of which collapsed and injured a number of people.The jumbos then ran into the crowd, causing a stampede-like situation.