A 80-year old farmer was trampled to death by an elephant at Narasipuram in the outskirts early in the morning today.

Avanashi had gone for a bath at a rivulet around 5.30 am, before going to his farm.

A stray elephant suddenly appeared there and lifted him with its trunk, hurled him down and trampled him resulting in instantaneous death.

On information, forest and police department officials rushed to the area and after driving away the pachyderm into the forest, recovered the body and sent it to the Government Hospital here for postmortem, police said.

The villagers have appealed to the forest officials to take steps to prevent the frequent incidents of elephants straying in to human habitats.