An elephant died of electrocution after it came in contact with a high-tension live wire in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district, a forest official said on Sunday.

The local villagers spotted the carcass early on Sunday morning near Hesadeepa forest and informed the forest department, the official said.

The pachyderm, a full-grown female, would be buried on the spot after post-mortem, the official said. The wild elephant was moving near the forest when it came in contact with the live wire hanging loose, the forest department official said. “We have taken up the issue with the electric department to rectify such loose wires but nothing was done as yet,” the official said while describing the incident as “unfortunate”.

Earlier, a full-grown wild male tusker had been electrocuted after it came in contact with a loose high-tension live wire near Bhatinvillage, about 35km from Jamshedpur, in East Singhbhum district on December 13.