A grandfather was trampled to death and another villager was injured by a rampaging wild elephant in northeast Thailand.

Jaran Promtoo, 60, was tending his plants when the jumbo called Plai Hoo Phab stormed his garden in Khon Kaen province.

He and his helper made loud noises trying to drive Plai Hoo Phab away but the bull went berserk and brutally stomped on them.

Villagers called a rescue team after finding the pair lying motionless in the garden on Wednesday evening. They Jaran already dead at the scene, with severe injuries to his chest, ribs, and hip.

His companion, not named by officials, survived and was taken to Khon Kaen Hospital for treatment.

District chief Kritsakorn Sritrakarn said officials deployed a heat-sensing drone to track Plai Hoo Phab's movements as it continued to lurk in the area.

He said: 'The investigation found that the victims often went to the garden to tend their crops and forage.

'When they tried to drive away the male elephant, it turned aggressive and attacked, leaving one dead and another injured.'

Wildlife officers said Plai Hoo Phab was a bull that had strayed from its herd at the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary in neighbouring Loei province.

Jaran is the third fatality linked to the elephant, which had killed a resident in April, and another just a day earlier on August 20.

Authorities warned villagers to avoid resting outdoors for prolonged periods and to stay in their houses instead. They also dispatched a unit to monitor wild elephant movements daily to warn community leaders if the animals were nearing residential areas.

Phu Wiang National Park officials said they have currently identified three wild elephants in the Si Chomphu district and Wiang Kao Districts.

On August 20, Nirun Paenfai, 52, was trampled to death by Plai Hoo Phab while setting eel traps at a pond in the same province. His mangled body was later found dumped in a pond near a sugarcane field.

As of 2024, there are an estimated 4,013–4,422 wild elephants in Thailand. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in Thailand at the beginning of the 20th century. The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.