Buthidaung: A wild elephant trampled to death a model villager in southern Buthidaung Township, when he was returning home from a banana orchard, said local villagers.

The pachyderm trampled the man on 15 July, at the foot of the Mayu Mountains near Shwe Natala Village, built by authorities at the beginning of this year for Burman settlers.

The victim was identified as U Maung Nyunt (47) and died when the elephant crushed him underfoot.

Attacks by elephants have been on the rise on the western border in recent years as authorities have been irresponsibly capturing elephants in the Mayu Range near the Bangladesh border.

Some capturing the elephants are using anesthetic dart guns to sedate and take the animals from the Mayu Range, which is the native habitat for many wild elephants. Because of such trapping attacks by wild elephants on locals has been increasing in the past year.

In January, a father and his son from a village in Maungdaw Township were trampled to death by wild elephants and in another incident U Kyaw Tun from Aung Zaya model village was hospitalized with serious injuries after being attacked on 15 January this year.

On average, 10 people are killed by elephants on the western Burma border each year.