Garhwa (Jharkhand): Three children, who were sleeping together due to fear of elephant attack, died of snake bites in a village in Jharkhand's Garhwa district, police said on Friday.

A police officer said the incident took place in Chapkali village under Chiniya police station in the district.

Police said around 8 to 10 children of a family, who were scared of elephant attacks, were sleeping on the floor of their tiled house when a reptile, reportedly a krait, entered the house and bit all three of them in Nawanagar Tola. . The officer said.

After the incident, the victims were taken to a doctor at around 1 am, where two of them died. Family members took the third victim to a quack, but she died on the way, the police officer said.

Chiniya police station in-charge officer Neeraj Kumar said that the deceased have been identified as Pannalal Korwa (15), Kanchan Kumari (8) and Baby Kumari (9).

Meanwhile, due to the increasing terror of elephants, villagers are forced to sleep in safe places.

Pachyderms enter human dwellings in search of food.

Locals claimed that some villagers were forced to sleep in groups on the rooftops of school buildings or at the same place in the village.