NEW DELHI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- A technical officer of a private safety device firm was trampled to death by an elephant in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, police said Friday.
The officer was killed by a domesticated elephant of the forest department during safety trials to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks.
According to the police, as the train neared the spot, one of the elephants turned aggressive, grabbing the officer with its trunk and throwing him to the ground before trampling him.
The police said the victim, a retired army colonel, was participating in the trials to secure the contract for installing an intrusion detection system to detect animal movement near railway tracks.
Last month, five Hindu devotees were killed and several others injured when a herd of wild elephants attacked them inside a forest area in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Every year, many people get killed or injured in the growing man-animal conflict across India. ■
