Elephants on the rampage: Herd of elephants kills three in Ramgarh; Forest officials issue alert and call for safety measures

Ramgarh: A herd of five elephants, which had killed six persons in Dec last year in separate incidents, trampled three more to death in two separate incidents in Ramgarh district on Friday, officials said.

The elephants first killed two brick kiln workers — Dheeraj Bhuiya, 30, and Jagdev Bhuiya, 32 — while they were sleeping in a hut near Banda village under Gola police station limits early on Friday. They then moved to nearby Murpa village and trampled to death Samdev Saw, 73, who was collecting mahua flowers.

Nitish Kumar, divisional forest officer (DFO), said that the same herd had killed six persons in Ramgarh last Dec. “They entered Ramgarh from Lugu hills in Bokaro after camping there for the past two months,” he said, adding that it needs to be investigated why the herd returned.

He said that they have sounded an alert in the entire district and forest teams are keeping a watch on the movement of the herd. “A quick response team (QRT) has been put on standby,” Kumar said.

Officials said that an initial compensation of Rs 25,000 each has been provided to the next of kin of the deceased. The remaining amount of the total Rs 4 lakh compensation will be provided after formalities are completed.

The forest department has appealed to villagers to refrain from sleeping in the open or in makeshift or thatched houses near the forest.

“In Dec 2025, two brick kiln workers were killed by elephants while they were sleeping in bamboo huts near their worksite. We appeal to people to take shelter in concrete places to minimise the danger. Also, elephants get attracted to mahua which is stocked by many forest dwellers in their houses at this time. It should be stored at places where human casualties can be avoided,” said another official.