Maoist mines turn Saranda's forest into jumbo killing fields

RANCHI/JAMSHEDPUR: Gunfire didn't ring out in the forest. It cracked with the weight of an elephant's scream. A six-year-old female collapsed near a stream, leg mangled, bleeding into the mud. Four days later, a 15-year-old bull dropped dead deeper in the jungle, a Maoist IED buried under the red soil of Saranda, triggered by a footstep.

Asia's largest sal forest spread across 900sqkm in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum hides death beneath its green pall. Elephants are walking into Maoist landmines, traps meant for troops. Two deaths in one week. Officials fear more lie wounded and unseen.

Search patrols sweep elephant trails and riverbanks. Drones buzz low above watering holes. Five are deployed, but monsoonal rain, foliage and fog obscure visibility. "We first got wind of a wounded elephant weeks ago," said DFO Aviroop Sinha. "It was only on June 28 that we managed to spot it through drone feed and send help."

Teams are working across four divisions - Kolhan, Porahat, Chaibasa, and Saranda - each step a gamble. "It's hostile terrain," Sinha said. "Security concerns make it worse. But we've deployed field patrols wherever we can." IEDs have long turned Saranda's forest trails into minefields. Since November 2022, at least six security personnel have been killed and more than two dozen wounded during combing operations. Maoists and breakaway factions have laid explosives across the forest - old ones buried years ago, fresh ones planted in 2024 and 2025.

Civilians aren't spared either. Twenty villagers have died - some while collecting firewood, others while foraging for mahua. In Saranda, every path winds into uncertainty - for soldier, villager, and elephant alike. "We have no maps, no numbers, no idea how many explosives are buried out there," said a forester. "We just move with caution and gut feeling."

The forest department has begun treating IED-triggered elephant deaths as a conservation emergency. Field teams have been ordered not to enter unknown terrain. Surveillance focuses on riverbanks - likely spots for wounded elephants to rest. But with rain sweeping the region, even drone eyes fail.

Regional chief conservator of forests Smita Pankaj said search ops are on high alert. But mobility remains limited. "We're also planning a joint effort with Odisha's Rourkela and Keonjhar divisions, as elephants use trans-border corridors," she said. Just recently, a herd of 40 moved from Saranda to Karampada in Odisha.

Wildlife expert DS Srivastava called the elephant casualties unprecedented. "This is new," he said. Srivastava surveyed Saranda between 2015 and 2016. "Even then, locals told us to avoid human trails," he said.

Each footstep could be the last for man and wildlife alike. And when a trunk lifts to call for help, the cry often vanishes into the forest - an SOS swallowed by the Sal.