Elephants Kill One, Injure Nine
Chris Ocowun
14 July 2010



Kampala — Stray elephants from Murchison Falls National Game Park, which borders Nwoya district, over the weekend raided a village in Koch-Goma sub-county, killing one person and injuring nine others.

David Oryema was killed, while Norbert Ocowun, Francis Ocungi and another, only identified as Adam, were severely injured as the elephants destroyed Gony Cogo village. Health officials, however, said Adam, whose leg broke after it was trampled upon, and Ocungi, whose private parts were injured, were out of danger.

Those with minor injuries included Alfred Onwang, Timothy Komakech, Lawrence Obed-thu, Gabriel Gipatho, Eric Wegi-Ngom and Richard Komakech, all from Bweyale.

Wegi-Ngom said the elephants attacked the hut in which all of them were sleeping at about 3:00am. The injured were rushed to Gulu Hospital by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officials.

The LC3 chairman of Koch-Goma sub-county, John Bosco Okullu, said he had earlier reported to UWA about 40 stray elephants, but nothing was done.

A UWA official, who declined to be named, said the game rangers were doing all they could to drive the elephants back to the park.