Rourkela: An enraged elephant trampled a senior citizen to death at Lajai village in Khaman forest reserve area here on Wednesday morning.

With this killing, the human death toll in the area rose to five this year.

Chatri Kujur, 60, of Lalai village had gone to the field to relieve himself when he came in front a herd of five elephants. A male elephant soon lifted him by its task and banged him on the ground before kicking him.

In another development, the Rourkela forest division here held a co-ordination meeting with its counterpart at Saranda in Jharkhand for elephant monitoring and for effective control of timber smuggling.

"We conducted an elephant drive last month and our additional conservator of forests was present with the team," said Rourkela divisional forest officer Sanjay Swain. More than 30 forest officials trained in elephant drive took part in it. "We had chased them away and they were on their way back into the jungle and subsequently into Saranda forest of Jharkhand from where they had come again," said Swain.

Kujur's family has been given a sum of Rs 20,000 for performing his last rites.

The family will also receive Rs 4 lakh as compensation once the report from the local revenue inspector comes, said the forest officer.