Two men were killed in an elephant attack in Jhargram in the early hours of Friday.
A forest official said the men killed on Friday were members of a hula party. Hula parties are squads made of villagers armed with searchlights, flaming torches and crackers, and are deployed to steer elephants away from human settlements.
The deceased have been identified as Gouranga Mahato and Tilak Murmu. Four other members of the squad were injured, he said.
The district has witnessed a surge in human-elephant conflict and at least six human deaths and one elephant death in less than a month in the run-up to the latest deaths.
The exact circumstances under which Mahato and Murmu died are not clear. But forest officials said an operation was underway from Thursday evening to drive a herd — of around 40 elephants — away from Jhargram towards West Midnapore.
The herd was being guided from the Manikpara range in Jhargram to theChandra range in West Midnapore. The operation started around 5.30pm on Thursday and the deaths happened around 1.30am on Friday, said sources in the forest department.
“The operation was going ahead as planned. The herd was 300m from railway tracks that it was supposed to cross. Suddenly, some elephants turned back and charged at the hula party. It is not clear how many elephants actually attacked. But two members died at the spot and four others were injured,” said Pankaj Suryavanshi, divisional forest officer, Jhargram.
Soumitra Dasgupta, head of forest force in Bengal, said a preliminary probe suggested that a single elephant killed the two men and injured the rest. “But nothing can be said with certainty at this moment. A detailed report is awaited,” he said.
“The deaths are extremely unfortunate. The next of kin of the two deceased men will get Rs 5 lakh each. A member each from the families will also get a job,” state forest minister Jyotipriya Mallick said.
Of the four injured persons, two have been discharged from hospital and a third is out of danger, too, an official said.