Three adult elephants were electrocuted at Binpur in Jhargram when one of them came in contact with a sagging high-tension wire while crossing a paddy field early on Wednesday and the other two apparently tried to rescue her.
Sources said the elephants — two females and a male — were part of a herd of 30 that had been roaming the forests of West Midnapore and Jhargram for the past few weeks.
Late on Tuesday night, the elephants had been chased by a “hula party” (villagers trained by the forest department to shoo away jumbos) to prevent the herd from entering Mohanpur village.
Villagers said the elephants got electrocuted around 1.30am on Wednesday on the outskirts of Mohanpur.
“First, an adult female elephant’s head touched the sagging wire. The two other elephants were electrocuted when they apparently touched her in a bid to help her,” a forest department official said.
A villager said residents had contacted the local office of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, but got no response.
“Then, we informed police and a team arrived shortly. They contacted WBSEDCL and the power supply was switched off,” said Sambhu Mahato, on whose field the incident occurred.
The high-tension wire in Mohanpur carries 11,000KV of power.
The divisional forest officer of Jhargram, Basav Raj S. Holeyachi, said: “The electric wire was sagging and an elephant came in contact with it. Two other elephants tried to help her, but got electrocuted in the process. The elephants were nearly 9ft tall. Electric wires should be at a minimum height of 20ft.”
Sources at Vidyut Bhavan in Salt Lake said as per information available with them, an elephant hit an electricity post while being chased by a hula party, causing it to come loose and the wire to sag.