The wild elephant, that had killed a 62-year-old Karumalai estate worker on Saturday in Valparai and scaring the villagers, collapsed and died while forest officials were trying to drive it back to the forests with the help of two kumkis on Tuesday.

According to Forest Department officials, they were trying to send back the 50-year-old female elephant to the forests with the help of kumki Khaleem when it suddenly fell down and died.

“We had planned to capture it alive and send it back to deep forest. We had brought a kumki for this. But suddenly the elephant fell down and died. No tranquiliser was given to it,” an official said.

“The reason behind its death will be known only after the autopsy is conducted,” he added.

More than 100 villagers squatted at the fourth hairpin bend on the busy Pollachi-Valparai Road on Monday urging the authorities to chase the animal back into the forest. Traffic was affected for around three hours.