Raigarh, Apr 28 (PTI) Four members of a family, including two minor girls, were today trampled to death by a herd of wild"elephants"in Dharamjaigarh forest division in Chhattigsarh"s Raigarh district, forest officials said.

The incident took place this evening near Koilar village when the victims were returning after picking up minor forest produce, a local official said.

The deceased were identified as Netram (50), Manglai (45), Aarti (7) and another minor girl Ritu, all belonging to the same family residing in Koilar, he said.

A forest official said that a herd of 26 elephants had been spotted in the area several times in the past few days.

Further details of the incident were not immediately known, he said, adding that a team had been rushed to the spot to evacuate the bodies from the forest.

He informed that forest ground staff had been directed to provide Rs 25,000 per deceased to their kin.

Northern Chhattisgarh, a heavily forested part of the state, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, is notorious for human"elephant"conflicts, said officials.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)