NEW DELHI, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least six people, including four members of a family, were trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants on Friday in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, officials said.

A herd of wild elephants stray into a paddy field in search of food in Nagaon district of northeastern state of Assam, India, on November 18, 2022. (File photo: Xinhua)

The attack took place in a village in Hazaribag district, about 90 km north of Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand.

A group of elephants from the nearby forest strayed into the village and damaged the houses where the villagers were sleeping, a police official said.

Locals said elephants smashed the walls of the houses and uprooted the doors, thus barging inside the structures and trampling the people.

Wildlife experts say mass urbanization, denudation of forests, encroachment of forestland, and vanishing buffer zones in the forests are among the reasons that push wild animals into residential areas.