Bhubaneswar, Nov 18 : Three elephants, comprising two adults and a calf, were found dead in the Buramal Forest area under the Naktideul forest range of Odisha's Sambalpur district on Monday morning, officials said.

The Forest Department is yet to declare officially the reason behind the deaths but preliminary reports suggest the jumbos died of electrocution.

The carcasses of the elephants were first spotted by the locals in Buramal village on Monday morning and Forest Department officials rushed to the spot after getting information.

Terming the death of three elephants as extremely unfortunate, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Susanta Nanda said: "As per the initial reports received from the DFO and other field staff, the pachyderms were electrocuted to death after coming into contact with electric wires laid there to trap wild boars. Certainly, there are lapses and negligence on the part of the elephant squad of the department patrolling in the area. The death of three elephants is a very unfortunate incident."

Nanda added that the Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF), and the Joint Task Force (JTF) of forest and police personnel have been asked to reach the spot of the incident and conduct a thorough probe into the matter to find those responsible.

The top official said that this is the third such incident in the Rairakhol area of Sambalpur and asserted that stringent action will be taken against the officials whose negligence caused the unfortunate deaths of the animals.

He said that action should have been taken against the poachers by the staff in the area. He also said that it was earlier decided to carry out joint patrolling in the area along with the Electricity Department officials and remove the electric wires laid to trap wild boars in the forest.

Negligence by Forest and Electricity Department officials caused the death of three elephants, Nanda said.

/IANS