A 45-year-old woman was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Surguja district in Chhattisgarh today, police said. The incident took place in the wee hours when the victim, identified as Janki Bai and her husband, were sleeping in their house in Vakhoi village under Udaipur police station limits, a local police official said.

The couple woke up to the sound of an elephant and tried to escape from the spot. "However, the elephant held the woman by its trunk and slammed her several times on the ground, resulting in her death," he said. Her husband, however, managed to flee from the spot.

The kin of the deceased was immediately given a relief amount of Rs 25,000, the official said adding that the remaining compensation will be disbursed soon after completing the necessary procedures. On January 26 this year, an elderly couple and a woman were trampled to death by wild elephants under Udaipur forest range in Surguja district.

In the recent years, there have been frequent incidents of attacks by wild elephants causing casualties and property damage in the forest areas in northern Chhattisgarh,
comprising Surguja, Korba, Balrampur, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts.