An elephant stood guard to protect a four-year-old girl, who had fallen down from a scooter, from other members of the herd in Lataguri.
The incident occurred on National Highway 31 near the entrance of Kalakhawa Watchtower of Gorumara National Park when a family of three was returning to Lataguri after offering puja at Mahakal Mandir.
The highway divides the forest into two parts. On the way home, businessman Nitu Ghosh, who was with his wife Titli and daughter Ahana, stopped the two-wheeler after seeing that a herd of elephants was crossing the road.
After a while, the elephants went into the other side of the jungle and Mr Ghosh resumed his journey.
However, some other members of the herd that were still inside the jungle appeared on the road and the scooter almost ran into them. Mr Ghosh applied the break suddenly and all the three fell down.
One of the jumbos came forward and stood still keeping the girl in the space between its legs like her own child, while other members of the group continued their journey.
Sensing the trouble the family was in, a truck driver who was waiting behind Mr Ghosh’s scooter rushed to their rescue hooting the horn of his vehicle madly to scare away the tuskers.
The elephants then quickly left the spot and Ahana was back on her mother’s arms.
