Guwahati, Sep 8 (IANS): A man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Assam's Tamulpur district on Thursday, officials said.

The incident took place in the Ganeshguri area in the district which falls along the Indo-Bhutan international border.

A police officer said that the deceased was identified as Nan Tima Bando. He was attacked by a herd of wild elephants when he was going into the nearby forest.

However, why the man went to the jungle is still not known. The locals claimed that Bando used to collect wood from the forest.

When other villagers spotted Tima Bando lying injured and unconscious in the forest, they rushed him to a nearby hospital, but the doctors declared him dead.

The body has been sent for post-mortem, the police informed.

The man-elephant conflict has increased in Assam in recent years. Environmentalists say that the forest cover has been continuously depleted in the state and wild animals are entering human localities in search of food.

Last month, in the same district, a 40-year-old woman died in a wild elephant attack in Angarkata Santipur village. The deceased was identified as Alka Biswas.

She was attacked by the elephant when she came out of her house to fetch water from a nearby stream.

A few days ago, a wild elephant swam across the Brahmaputra river and entered Tezpur town. It went on a rampage in the town causing panic among the people. Later, the forest officials pushed back the elephant into the forest.

Assam has the second-highest number of elephants in India.