A late-evening road accident in Charhi Valley of Hazaribagh district claimed the lives of two members of a Quick Response Team (QRT) and left eight others seriously injured on Saturday.
The team was enroute to drive away wild elephants that had been creating panic in Charhi and Ango police station areas of Hazaribag district when their vehicle collided with a speeding container truck.
The impact of the collision was severe, leaving the QRT vehicle badly mangled and triggering chaos in the valley stretch.
Local residents, along with police personnel, rushed to the spot and shifted the injured to hospital without delay. The deceased have been identified as Pintoo Karmakar, a resident of West Bengal, and local driver Shahadat Ansari.
According to officials, the nine-member QRT had arrived in Hazaribagh from Bankura district in West Bengal at the request of the Ramgarh Forest Division to manage the escalating elephant menace in the region.
The team had been assigned to control the situation in the sensitive Charhi belt when the accident occurred.
Also read: Four of a family among 6 killed by wild Elephants in Jharkhand
All injured personnel and the bodies of the deceased were taken to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital for treatment and post-mortem procedures.
Hospital sources said several of the injured remain in critical condition. Those undergoing treatment include Dilip Murmu, Rajiv Kalani, Mantu Mahto, Rubin Mandi, Simon Modi, Shambhu Karmakar, Sanjay Karmakar and Pawan Karmakar.
Divisional Forest Officer VK Ujjwal reached the hospital soon after receiving information about the incident and reviewed the situation. Expressing deep grief, he said the department was shocked by the tragedy, noting that the team had set out on a crucial mission amid increasingly tense circumstances.
The accident comes at a time when Hazaribagh district has been grappling with a surge in elephant-related incidents, heightening concerns over safety and response preparedness.
Follow us
