A man has been trampled to death after trying to take a selfie with an elephant.
Srikant Satre, 23, and two of his friends ventured into the Abapur forest, near the town of Gadchiroli in central India, after reports that an elephant had been spotted nearby.
Once they spotted the elephant, the trio decided to pose for photos with the wild animal.
It was at this point that the elephant charged at them and killed Mr Satre as he tried to take a selfie with it.
The workers were in the city, located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, for cable-laying work when they heard rumors from locals on Tuesday that an elephant had been sighted nearby.
Srikant Satre, 23, was trampled to death by an elephant when he tried to take a selfie with the animal (stock image)
This is reported by the Indian news website NDTVthe three friends agreed to look for the animal Thursday morning when they were not at work.
In September, a five-month pregnant woman and her unborn baby were crushed to death by a herd of elephants in Indonesia.
Mother-of-three Karsini, 33, was tapping rubber trees with her husband Rasum on Sunday when the herd of about 15 jumbos entered their plantation in South Sumatra.
The woman smashed empty jerry cans together like cymbals in a desperate attempt to scare off the animals, which each weighed up to 4,000kg.
But the wild animals, frightened and enraged by the banging, attacked the couple and brutally trampled Karsini and her unborn baby to death.
After the herd left, villagers in Musi Rawas regency collected Karsini’s corpse from the forest.
The elephant’s conservation status has been changed to critically endangered as the population has reportedly declined by at least 80 percent over the past 75 years.
The three friends ventured into the Abapur Forest (pictured) near the town of Gadchiroli in central India after reports that an elephant had been spotted nearby
Elephants are rarely aggressive, but can take action if they feel threatened or to protect their young.
According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, approximately 400 people die each year in India alone from collisions with elephants.
Human development has also brought wild elephants to near-extinction; Today there are between 30,000 and 50,000 elephants in the world.
The majority live in India, where thousands of captive elephants spend their lives working in harsh conditions, overheating, being treated poorly and in some cases being beaten for their behavior.