The Bardia National Park (BNP) has started a free bus service to ferry students to a local school after one of the students was killed in an elephant attack on Thursday.

Yuvraj Tharu of Patharwoji of Dhodari-1, a seventh grader at Tribhuvan Secondary School was attacked by a wild tusker when he was returning home from school.

He died while undergoing treatment at Kohalpur Medical College, Nepalgunj on Thursday night.

The school is located in Suryapattuwa in the Dalla area, one of the key biological corridors established in the national park and buffer-zone areas.

“Students coming from nearby areas from different villages do not want to go to school for the fear of being attacked by wile animals. So we decided to arrange free bus service for their safety,” said Ramesh Kumar Thapa, chief conservation officer of the BNP.

Around 50 students from different villages use the dense forest areas and biological corridor to reach school.

Students can use the bus service provided by the party authorities to reach school and return home.

Earlier, Paruwa Tharu, 72, of the Dalla area died after he was attacked by an elephant.

According to Thapa, a team of security personnel including Nepal Army and wildlife experts have been mobilised to control the situation.

The marauding male tusker was later darted and then released in the community forestry area.

“We have requested the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation to issue permit to radio-collar the elephant to monitor its activities and identify if it is the same elephant causing havoc in the village time and again,” said Thapa.

People from Patabhar, Gola, Thakurdwara, Bagnaha, Neulapur and Dhadabhar in the district live under continuous terror of tusker attack.

The elephants that usually come out of the jungle in the evenings go on the rampage, destroying houses.

It is estimated that there are around 100 wild elephants in the BNP.