A 55-year-old estate worker was gored to death by an elephant when he was on his way to the house of his general manager at the estate in Valparai.

The victim, James, was on his way to the senior official’s house at around 5.30 AM when he noticed two elephants in the opposite direction. Panicked, James tried to run for safety, but one of the elephants caught him with its trunk, and trampled and gored him to death.

The lifeless body of James was discovered by the general manager who came out for his morning walk. He immediately called the police who arrived immediately and sent the body to the Government Hospital for postmortem.

Valparai residents are being troubled by a herd of elephants in the region. The herd has destroyed agricultural land and people in the region are terrified to step out of their houses in the evenings and early in the mornings.