A horrifying tragedy in India has shocked local residents after a 32-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant while trying to take selfies with a herd.
Officials confirmed at least five people, including two women, were killed in separate elephant attacks across Jharkhand’s Ramgarh and Ranchi districts on December 16, 2025 — all within a single 24-hour span.
One victim, identified as Amit Kumar Rajwar, reportedly walked too close to a herd of eight elephants in the Sirka forest area to film videos and snap selfies before the animals charged. He died at the scene.
“Several of the victims have not been identified so far,” said Nitish Kumar, the Divisional Forest Officer of Ramgarh, adding that special teams and guards are now tracking roughly 42 elephants roaming near the Ramgarh-Bokaro border.
Two survivors, including one woman, are being treated in hospital, while families of the deceased have received immediate financial relief from the government.
This is only the latest in a string of deadly elephant encounters across India. In August, a tourist at Karnataka’s Bandipur National Park narrowly escaped death when an elephant charged and pinned him to the ground as he stopped to take pictures. Weeks later, another man was fatally stomped in Assam after being chased through a village.
Authorities are now urging the public to stay far from wild elephants, as human-elephant encounters continue to rise with shrinking forest boundaries and social media thrill-seekers putting themselves in fatal danger.
Source: Mirror US, local Indian media reports
They’d better not kill those elephants for this! It’s the fault of the Darwin Award contestants.
Absolutely the truth, it’s their fault thinking an elephant wants a picture with you!!!