The forest department probing the untoward incident during the conduct of the temple festival at Koyilandy, which claimed three lives on Thursday, has reported major violations in the preliminary report.

The probe report was submitted to the Minister of Forests A K Saseendran by Keerthi IFS, Conservator of Forests (Social Forestry), Northern Region, Kozhikode.

The official inspected the temple premises on Friday and met with the representatives of the temple committee. In her report, two key violations with regard to captive elephant management rules have been reported.

It is learnt that the official flagged lapses on the part of the authorities in complying with the norms in the report. The official said that strong recommendations have also been included in the report.

Minister for Forest and Wildlife A K Saseendran on Thursday sought a report from the District Collector and Chief forest conservator (North zone) after three people lost their lives when elephants turned violent during a temple festival at Koyilandy in Kozhikode.

The Minister said that further action will be taken based on the report. The Minister issued directions to check if there was a violation of captive elephant management rules in parading elephants for the temple festival.

Two elephants went berserk ahead of a procession on the final day of the temple festival, triggering a stampede which left three dead and over 30 people injured. A part of the building also collapsed after the elephants turned violent.