A 22-year-old was trampled to death by an elephant on Wednesday when he was trying to divert a herd approaching his village in Jhargram's Sankrail police station area.

Family members said that Sanjib Mahato of Birghasa village in Sankrail was also member of the Hula party, a local team of youths hired by foresters for steering elephants away from human habitations.

Sanjib, who was also an undergraduate student of Sankrail Anil Biswas Smriti Mahavidyalaya, went out of his home in the morning after coming to know that a herd of around eight elephants was passing through his village and could potentially damage crops and homes.

"The villagers informed him about the elephants approaching the village. He immediately went out to divert the herd. While doing his job, he, however, failed to spot an elephant behind him and was crushed to death," said Shambhunath Mahato, the elder brother of the deceased.

Shivanand Ram, the divisional forest officer of Kharagpur, under which the area falls, termed the death of the youth unfortunate.

"The death of the youth is really unfortunate but it is clearly an accident. There is no one to blame, neither the elephant nor the youth. We reached out to the family of the youth with government-mandated compensation within hours of the incident," Ram said.

The deaths of people by elephant attacks have become a regular phenomenon in the Jungle Mahal districts, especially Jhargram, West Midnapore and Bankura.

A forester said that more than 90 persons were killed last year because of human-animal conflict.