Wayanad, Feb 12 (IANS): For the second day in succession, the man-animal conflict has taken the life of a tribal man near Meppadi near here.

Since Tuesday night, 25-year-old Balan has been missing and his body was found in the morning.

The place where the incident took place is near the area in the district where 254 people were killed in landslide in July 2024.

A local resident Balakrishnan said Balan was returning from the shop but he took a different route.

"This morning, I went to his place to call him for work and was told that he was missing. Soon we started a search for him and we saw his body which was completely smashed and the head portion damaged," said Balakrishnan.

"The body has now been covered and is lying at the same place where it was found. We are waiting for the officials to arrive, while the locals are up in arms against the inaction of the officials," added Balakrishnan.

Nousha Marikar, the Wayanad District Panchayat President, said the officials' apathy continues and lives are lost.

"We strongly feel that had the officials acted on time by undertaking a patrol, things could have been better. This incident took place a few kilometres from the forest station. There are no street lights as this area is known to be wild elephant-infested area," said Marikar.

The incident happened 24 hours after 45-year-old Manu was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Sulthan Bathery in the district.

The man-animal conflict has gripped the hilly district of Wayanad. On January 24, a woman, who was going to pluck coffee beans, was killed by a tiger.

Balan’s death is the 10th one in the past decade in Wayanad and the second one in two days.

Wayanad borders Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states and is surrounded by deep dense forests and is home to tigers, wild elephants and wild boars which have left the people especially those living near the forest areas in perennial fear.