India, March 10 -- Human casualties in Odisha due to encounters with wild elephants saw an all-time high of 149 in 2023-24 so far when a tribal woman was killed by a tusker on Saturday morning in Sundargarh district, surpassing the 148 deaths recorded in the year that ended in March 2023, officials aware of the development said.

A woman named Itwari Badra of Kusumundi village in Sundargarh district was trampled to death by a tusker that had strayed into the village in search of food, the officials said, declining to be named. She was trying to run away from the rampaging animal when it dragged her with its trunk before trampling her. She died on the spot.

As many as 1,701 humans in 16 states were killed by elephants from 2020-21 to 2023...