Rampaging elephant kills 22 and leaves residents sleeping on their rooftops as search for animal continues

A rampaging, single-tusked elephant has been tearing through villages in eastern Jharkland, killing 22 people and forcing terrified residents to sleep on rooftops just to stay alive. It has been loose since the beginning of January, turning nighttime walks and field work into deadly traps.

Most attacks are happening after dark, when people are least prepared, and the animal has not been captured yet. Families in places like Bodijari have lost loved ones, including 34-year-old Mangal Singh Hembram, while others were attacked watching fields in the middle of the night, leaving communities on edge and searching for answers.

And right now, the hunt is still ongoing, with villagers warned off the streets and the elephant still out there.

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A rampaging elephant has killed 22 people and left others sleeping on their roofs, in the eastern state of Jharkland in India.

The single-tusked elephant has been on the loose through villages in the region since the beginning of January and has so far taken the lives of over 20 people.

The first names people started whispering about were Mangal Singh Hembram in Bodijari and Urdub Bahoda out in the fields, and the pattern was already ugly by then.

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The animal, which has not yet been captured, has been rampaging through forests and villages, with the attacks on humans taking place mainly at night.

A huge search is now underway to locate the elephant, with officials calling the situation 'unprecedented'.

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"This is an unprecedented situation. It's the first time such a pattern of fatalities has been linked to a single male elephant in the region," said divisional forest officer Kuldeep Meena.

Meena added that the priority at present is to capture the animal and release it into the wild.

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One victim was a 34-year-old named Mangal Singh Hembram, who was attacked near his home in Bodijari.

Meanwhile, a 62-year-old man, Urdub Bahoda, was attacked while watching his field in the middle of the night.

Then 42-year-old Vishnu Sundi was trampled later that evening, and the nightmare stopped feeling like random bad luck.

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Later that evening, 42-year-old Vishnu Sundi was trampled to death by the animal.

Further fatalities have occurred, including the deaths of Kundra Bahoda and his two children - Kodama, six and Samu, eight.

After Kundra Bahoda and his two children, Kodama and Samu, were killed, their mother Pundi escaped with her two-year-old daughter, which only made the danger feel even closer.

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Their mother, Pundi, escaped unharmed with her two-year-old daughter.

Following the attacks, authorities have been using drums to warn people not to go outdoors or sleep outside while the elephant is on the loose.

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Meena explained that the animal could be in its mating season, in which male elephants can experience heightened levels of aggression.

Meanwhile, Aditya Narayan, divisional forest officer of Chaibasa district, has said that three attempts had already been made to tranquillise the elephant but all had been unsuccessful.

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“Our team is on high alert, and efforts to tranquillise it will be resumed. Villagers have been strictly advised not to go into the forests and to remain vigilant,” he said.

Narayan added: “Anyone who came in front of it was trampled.”

Even with drums used to keep people indoors and three attempts to tranquillize the elephant failing, officials say the search and capture efforts will have to keep pushing forward.

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“In one family alone four people were killed. It is unprecedented.

“We have seen elephants in musth in the past, but they’d rarely harm people.”

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The tensions between elephants and humans is on the rise in India, believed to be down to deforestation, which has reduced the number of areas in which they can migrate.

Meanwhile, more than 2,800 people in India have died from encounters with elephants.

While the elephant is still roaming, the people of Jharkland are stuck living like rooftops are the safest place in the world.

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