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Jharkhand: Elephant herd attacks village; six, including four of a family, dead
A forest officer said the department is assessing the cause of the incident, but preliminary findings pointed to unfamiliarity on both sides.
Six people, including four members of a family, were killed after a herd of elephants stormed into Ango Gondwar village under Churchu block of Hazaribagh district in the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, officials said.
“The incident occurred around 2am in the Ango Gondwar Bhuiyan Toli village. The victims included two minor children, aged one-and-a-half and four years. One child died while undergoing treatment at the Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital,” a district administration official said.
According to initial reports, a herd of five elephants entered the village and first attacked a 60-year-old man. When other family members rushed out to help, they were surrounded and trampled to death, officials said.
Hazaribagh (East) divisional forest officer Vikash Kumar Ujjwal said a quick response team had reached the spot and initiated efforts to drive the herd back towards the forest.
“Effort has been started to drive the herd toward Kargi forest,” Ujjwal said.
The forest officer said the department is assessing the cause of the incident, but preliminary findings pointed to unfamiliarity on both sides.
“Wild elephants had never been seen in the locality where the incident took place, thus people unaware of the elephant’s behaviour came out of their houses, making the animals even more aggressive. Besides, elephants were also not aware of the landscape of the locality,” he said.
