Image credit : Illustrative Image

Coimbatore : A 60-year old male estate worker was trampled and hurled down to death by an elephant near his house in Kothagiri in Nilgiris District in the early hours of today.

Samidas had come out after hearing dogs barking outside his house in Kuttada Estate in the early hours, police said.

A wild elephant suddenly came out of a bush and trampled Samidas and caught with its trunk and hurled him down, resulting in instant death, they said.

On information, police and forest department officials rushed to the spot and sent the body for postmortem, even as panic gripped in the area.