A herd of elephants trampled to death a woman and a little girl at Bankati village under Chakulia police station area in Ghatshila subdivision of the district in the small hours of Monday.

Three jumbos killed Kalyani Sabar, 29, and Bisha Sabar, 5, both residents of the village around 65km from the steel city, when they had gone to answer nature’s call in a forest area close to their dwelling.

A 45-year-old-man, Iklu Sabar, was killed in similar fashion in the small hours of Saturday at the same village.

“Two females, including a minor, have been trampled to death by a herd of elephants,” Kolhan regional chief conservator of forest Vishwanath Shah said.

“We have instructed the Jamshedpur divisional forest officer (DFO) Abhishek Kumar to visit the spot and ensure that no such incident recurs at the forest situated close to the Bengal border,” Shah added.

DFO Kumar, who had been to Bankati village, said that the herd of three elephants which is anchored at a jungle near Bankati since the past one week has been damaging paddy crop as well.

“We have engaged a 15-member team of elephant drivers at Bankati village. The team has started working from today (Monday) and is expected to provide security to the villagers against further attack by the tuskers,” the DFO said.

He said that the residents of Bankati village have been warned not to venture into the jungle in the early morning.

The forest department has paid Rs 25,000 as compensation to the kin of those killed, he said.

“We will pay Rs 3.75 lakh to the kin of each victim within a fortnight,” the DFO added. “We are finding out ways to discipline the herd, which is causing havoc at the village.”