MERSING: Search teams, including air units and jungle trackers, are actively searching for an elephant that trampled two men, resulting in one fatality and one critical injury.
The incident occurred at Felda Tenggaroh Timur 1 here yesterday.
State Health and Environment Committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said officers from the Johor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) needed to find the elephant and relocate it to a forest reserve as a precautionary measure, considering the safety of the villagers residing in the area.
Yesterday, two school contract cleaners were attacked by a lone elephant that wandered behind a school in the Felda settlement after they attempted to chase it away with sticks.
However, the beast became agitated by the cleaners' screams and aggressive attempts to scare it away, leading to the attack.
Ling said the deceased was identified as Mohamad Syafik Yakob, 31, while Zalini Dahalan, 49, who is in critical condition, was undergoing treatment at Sultan Ismail Hospital in Johor Baru.
"The elephant was spotted earlier in the morning, but the victims took matters into their own hands and attempted to chase it away at 11am, despite being warned to leave it alone.
"Perhilitan officers arrived at the scene about noon, and immediately deployed drones to search for the mammal. However, their efforts were unsuccessful as it had already fled further into the forest.
"The search effort is ongoing… The elephant will be relocated into the forest reserve to ensure similar incidents will not reoccur," he told the "New Straits Times" when contacted today.
He said wild animals should never be provoked under any circumstance.
"Do not attempt to get close to it (wild animal). Instead, leave the area and quickly contact the Perhilitan authorities, as they are experts in dealing with wildlife.
"Never attempt to chase wild animals away," he said, adding that this could escalate the situation and potentially result in serious injury or death.