Thiruvananthapuram: An estate canteen supervisor escaped an attack of Arikomban, a wild elephant late night on Saturday at Panniyar, Idukki.

Arikomban has the habit of coming into Santhanpara and other nearby areas of Idukki district and damaging ration shops and eating rice.

Forest officials sid that the supervisor of the Panniyar estate canteen in Idukki was sleeping in the canteen when the elephant broke open the canteen door in search of food. On seeing the animal, Edwin ran away from the spot but the elephant followed him.

Edwin, according to forest officials, ran for his life and entered into a small lane through which the elephant could not enter and thus escaped from the wild tusker.

The ration shops in the Panniyar and Santhanpara areas were electrically fenced of late following the regular attack of the wild Arikomban.

As the ration shops were electrically fenced, the elephant tried to enter the labour canteen in search of rice and found Edwin.

The Kerala Forest department has already constituted a task force led by Dr. Arun Zakariah to dart the elephant and rehabilitate it following protests by farmers and shopkeepers regarding the frequent attacks from the elephant.

(With inputs from IANS)