DUBAI: This is the moment a frightened wild elephant killed a man on Saturday by stamping on him after he tried to take a selfie with the creature.

The man, identified by MailOnline as 50-year-old Asok Bharti, apparently approached the elephant in Kuanrmunda, Odisha state, eastern India when it became separated from its herd.

Park rangers were trying to guide the animal back when Bharti approached, but as he tried to take the photo the elephant charged at him and the man tried to run.

But Bharti tripped and fell to the ground and the elephant trampled on him, inflicting horrific injuries, he died on the way to hospital,

On the video, which was shot apparently from a safe distance, people can be heard shouting as the man tries to run for his life and then falling to the ground.

“Forest officials were trying to chase the elephant back to the herd when Bharti came too close to the animal to take a selfie…The animal was nervous as it had strayed away from his family and when the man came too close to it, the elephant in its rescue attacked him,” Philip Sahu, assistant conservator of forests, said.