Rampaging elephant kills 22 people in eastern India

by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News January 20, 2026

A large bull elephant has killed 22 people and injured over a dozen more in a rampage through villages in eastern India, reports say.

Social media screenshots of the rampaging elephant.

Terrified locals reportedly climbed trees and slept on rooftops to stay out the reach of the single-tusked elephant which first struck on New Year’s Day when it killed a 35-year-old man in the village of Bandijhari in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district.

Four days later, the elephant killed five members of the same family in the nearby town of Sowan. The next day, it killed five more people in Babaria, including a married couple and their two children, the Times of India reported.

The elephant has thwarted efforts to tranquilize it as it has moved mostly at night through dense forests, covering as much as 25 miles a day, according to local forestry officials.

The elephant is believed to be in a state of musth — a natural but dangerous hormonal condition in male elephants marked by a surge in testosterone that can last weeks or even months. During musth, bulls become extremely aggressive, restless and unpredictable, often roaming long distances and attacking without warning.

More than 300 forest and wildlife personnel have been deployed in a massive search operation involving tracking teams, tranquilizer units and drones, forestry officials said.

Animal control personnel reported making multiple attempts to tranquilize the elephant using dart guns, but each effort failed as the giant became increasingly agitated — forcing teams to repeatedly abort operations over fears it could charge crowds gathered near villages.

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