News
Young lecturer on life support after elephant attack in Kilinochchi uni grounds
Gayathri Dilrukshi, 32, a Jaffna University lecturer attacked by an elephant within university grounds in Kilinochchi earlier this week, is alive but in critical condition, the National Hospital of Sri Lanka said.
The victim: Gayathri Dilrukshi
Some media outlets reported her death a few days after the incident but Jaffna Teaching Hospital Director Dr. T. Sathyamoorthy dispelled the rumours. She was alive but unconscious with a traumatic head injury, he said. On Thursday, she was airlifted to the National Hospital in Colombo where she remains on a ventilator.
Dilrukshi, began teaching at Jaffna University’s Faculty of Engineering three years ago.
“She came to teach at the university because she was determined to experience a different society and culture,” the head of the Jaffna University’s Information Technology Faculty, Dr. Sivamathi Sivachandiran, said.
The Faculty of Engineering in Kilinochchi lies inside a 150-acre walled site where classrooms and student hostels are situated, the Deputy Registrar for General Administration K. Gnanabaskaran, said.
Adjacent to this is a 400-acre area surrounded by mesh fencing, two-thirds of which has been cleared and contains quarters for staff and deans, a “spiritual hub” with worship facilities dedicated to the four main religions of the country, and a farm run by the university’s Agriculture Department.
The remaining 150 acres are still thick jungle – a former minefield where building is not yet allowed.
The elephant broke through the fence and came through the jungle area into the cleared area. University officials say it was probably heading for the cashews and passion fruit crops on the farm.
At the time of her attack, Dilrukshi had been returning from the temple, which she had been cleaning in her off-duty hours, Dr. Sivachandran said. A colleague from the Faculty of Engineering had been with her but had escaped.
“Elephant attacks are not common in this area,” an official from the Wildlife Conservation Department Regional Office overseeing Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu said.
There have been two attacks on humans in the region this year, five in the past five years.
None of the elephant habitats have yet been “declared” by the Wildlife Conservation Department, he said.
The university campus is surrounded by forest and had no real protection, he continued. Nevertheless, the attack was an isolated incident and the first reported at the university.
The university has moved fast since the attack to prevent more incidents. It has received wildlife department permission to set up an electric fence around the 400-acre area. A 50m parameter beyond the fence will also be cleared. The enclosed area will be cleared of landmines by the security forces.
The site of the attack. Pic by Romesh Madushanka
Spotlights have been installed around the staff quarters and staff and students have been asked to avoid going outdoors after 6 p.m.
Kilinochchi District Secretary R. Kethiswaran said attacks on humans were not common in the area, and deaths were rare.
Local residents however, say farmers and elephants often clash. The main complaint is about crop destruction. “We are tired of complaining to many government authorities regarding this with no action being taken,” the Secretary of Iranamadu Farmers Federation in Kilinochchi, Muththu Sivamohan, said.
He said elephants translocated to a forest stretching from Kalmadukulam to Iranaimadhukulam venture out to nearby villages. An electric fence around the area has been proposed but not implemented.
Mrs. Kethiswaran, who assumed office in January, said the wildlife department had not translocated elephants in the recent past, and Wildlife and Conservation Department Director-General Chandana Sooriyabandara rejected allegations of elephants being translocated to the north by his department.
“Any elephant that is removed from its current location will be sent to the Horowpothana Elephant Holding Ground and nowhere else,” he said.
Mr. Sivamohan said areas such as Ramanathapuram, Puthukaadu, Mayapuram, Alakapuri, and Kalmadhunagar are areas where elephants frequently come into areas of human habitat.
No survey of the elephant population in the Northern Province has been carried out since 2011.