Koderma, Mar 1 (PTI) A herd of wild elephants destroyed standing crops in several villages in Jharkhand's Koderma district, Forest Department officials said.

The herd of wild elephants destroyed standing crops in several villages including Kharpoka under Jayanagar block in the border area of Hazaribagh and Koderma district in the last two days, the officials said.

The Forest department is assessing the damaged caused to the crops by the elephants, they said.

Police said the elephants have trampled crops planted in about 50 acres of land.

The herd of elephants entered Kharpoka village late on Saturday night. The villagers tried to drive them by bursting firecrackers. But instead of running away, the elephants entered the fields and destroyed standing crops, the police said.

The villagers informed the forest department about the elephant herd. Forest department officials reached the spot and tried to drive away the elephants.

The villagers have requested the Forest department and the Deputy Commissioner to compensate them for the crops destroyed by the elephants.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)