Man taking selfie, trampled to death by wild elephant

A man in India was trampled to death by a savage elephant while trying to click a selfie in the western state Maharashtra.

Shashikant Ramchandra Satre, a 23-year-old electrician, was laying cables nearby on Thursday when he heard that a wild tusker was roaming in the Gadchiroli forest.

Reportedly, Satre decided to enter the forest along with two of his friends to catch a glimpse of the elephant. When he saw the animal, he tried to click a selfie from a distance, NDTV reports.

However, the elephant, named CME3 by forest officials, became aggressive and trampled Satre under its feet. The other two men managed to save their lives and escape the area.

Forest officials have described the tusker as huge and aggressive, which entered the Gadchiroli forest in Maharashtra from neighboring Chhattisgarh state.

The elephant had killed at least seven others in the states of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Maharashtra between November 2023 and May 2024. Times of India reported.

“We have already informed nearby villages to take precautionary measures and have posted forest personnel in each village,” said Vivek Khandekar, chief conservator of forests in Maharashtra.

“Our field staff, along with the Rapid Rescue Team, are already active in the area and informing locals about the presence of wild elephants and what to do and not do while interacting with them,” he told the Indian daily.

India has reportedly recorded the highest number of selfie deaths followed by the US and Russia.

A man in southern India was mauled to death by an Asiatic lion earlier in February after jumping into its enclosure to take a selfie with the animal.

Prahlad Gujjar, 38, climbed over a 10-foot fence and jumped into the lion enclosure of the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park in Tirupati on Thursday, zoo officials in Andhra Pradesh said.

In 2021, another man was trampled to death by an elephant while trying to take a selfie with the animal in Chhattisgarh.

There have been 379 selfie-related deaths recorded worldwide between 2008 and 2021, according to a study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine.