At least six people, including four members of a family, were trampled to death by a wild elephant in two separate attacks in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, officials said Wednesday.

The attacks took place late on Tuesday in Sowan village of Goilkera block in West Singhbhum district. The victims were sleeping inside their houses when the elephant barged in, smashed through the walls and trampled the people inside.

Four people injured in the attacks are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

Local news outlet The Avenue Mail said that with the latest tragedy, the death toll from elephant attacks in Chaibasa region has climbed to 15 within just a week.

Wildlife experts say mass urbanization, denudation of forests, encroachment of forestland, vanishing of buffer zones in the forests, etc., are some of the reasons that push wild animals into residential areas.

xinhua