ARUSHA, Tanzania, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- A 35-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant when he was in his paddy farm located 200 km from Tanzania's busiest commercial capital Dar es Salaam, police confirmed Wednesday.
Tanzanian police said the incident occurred on Monday night when a farmer identified as Samson Jacob of Kilosa District in the country's eastern region of Morogoro.
The trampled man was guarding his paddy farm from destructive animals and birds.
Leonce Rwegasira, Regional Police Chief confirmed the incident, saying the victim was in his make-shift hut when the elephant which believed to have strayed from Mikumi National Park stormed into the area.
The police chief said that the elephant smashed man to his death.
"Preliminary investigation show that the man was in his make-shift hut when the elephant stormed into the area. But, we're told that the man was asleep when the large mammal stormed into his temporary house. He was sleeping there in order to drive away animals and birds feasting in his rice in the farm," Rwegasira said.
He added: "We've launched investigation on the matter."
Reports say that the victim might have ripe banana in his hut, something which might have attracted the elephant to do the vice.
In recent years, there is an increasing incident of elephant attacking and killing human beings, the situation that worsen human-wildlife conflict in the country.
In May this year, a 42-year-old farmer in southern Tanzania's district of Namtumbo was killed by an elephant, which is believed to have strayed from Serous Game Reserve.
In April, a similar incident happened in Morogoro Region when a smallholder farmer was killed by an elephant. The farmer was trying to chase a herd of elephants out of his corn farm.
