A wild elephant trampled and killed 23-year-old Shashikant Ramchandra Satre on October 24, 2024, in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district while he attempted to take a selfie with the animal.
The incident occurred in the Pandhari Bhatal area near Abapur forest, where Satre had gone with two friends for labor work related to cable laying.
Witnesses reported that Satre was under the influence of alcohol at the time; he tried to escape the elephant by climbing a tree, but the elephant nudged the tree, causing him to fall and be fatally trampled.
The forest department had been alerted about the presence of a wild elephant in the Abapur forest just a day before the incident, highlighting ongoing concerns about human-elephant interactions in the area.
A study of news reports showed that there were 379 deaths from selfie related accidents from January 2008 to July 2021, with the highest occurrences in India, followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan. They include a young Indian man died after falling off the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, while taking a photo of himself on 4 January 2019.
