At least six people, including four members of a family, were trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district on Friday (February 13, 2026).
The incident took place at around 12:30 AM in Gondwar village, around 20 km from Hazaribagh under Churchu block when the villagers were asleep. According to a villager, five elephants in group entered the village and created chaos by damaging at least eight houses.
Deepak Kumar, lost four of his family members in the elephants attack.
“I lost my father, wife and two minor children of 4-years and 8-months-old. I was not there at home when the elephant killed my family. I was at my work site in Hazaribagh town and visit my house once a week. I came know about the incident last night itself but reached home in the morning at 4 a.m., “Mr. Kumar said.
While five people died on the spot, one succumbed to his injuries during treatment at the government hospital. Mandu Assembly constituency MLA Nirmal Mahto from All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) also reached the village to meet deceased family members.
“It was past 12 in the night when I was going to bed and after some time, me and my father heard the sound of the elephants who had entered a house by breaking the main gate. The elephant came towards me but I hit it with electric heater to save my life,“ said a villager.
Another villager Babulal Hembram suggested that forest department should come out with the detail plan and strategy to deal with such situation as elephants are now killing humans.
“There should be arrangements of proper announcement through public address system to alert the villagers. Even the forest department should use the loud siren to alert the villagers. Those who have killed six people should be identified to study their behaviour,“ Mr. Hembram said.
According the forest official, these elephants have earlier attacked several houses leaving many villagers seriously injured.
Vijay Kumar, a range officer of Hazaribagh Forest said that villagers are demanding to declare the these elephants as rogue.
Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), of Hazaribagh Sadar, Aaditya Pandey said process has been initiated for the compensation.
“We are trying our level-best and process will be sped up so that the deceased family gets the compensation as soon as possible. This incident is unfortunate and I have spoken to the forest department official as well to take precautionary measures to curb such incidents,” Mr. Pandey said while speaking to the reporters at the village.
Last month, one male elephant has killed 20 people in the Chaibasa and Kolhan Forest areas of West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.
Published – February 14, 2026 09:11 am IST
