By Robyn White On 6/13/22 at 3:32 AM EDT

An elephant that killed a woman in India returned to her funeral and trampled on her corpse, local police have said.

The 70-year-old woman, Maya Murmu, was attacked by the wild elephant as she walked to collect water in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, Indian news outlet The Print reported.

The elephant had strayed from the Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, which lies about 10 miles from the city of Jamshedpur.

After the elephant attacked Murmu, she was rushed to hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries, Lopamudra Nayak, an inspector at the Rasgovindpur police station, told The Print.

Later, as family members gathered to perform a funeral for Murmu, the wild tusker appeared once again.

It approached the pyre and grabbed the body, The Print reported. The elephant then trampled on her body again, and threw it away before fleeing.

The funeral was completed a few hours later.

Duncan McNair, a lawyer and founder of conservation charity Save The Asian Elephants, told Newsweek that this incident is a reminder that although gentle creatures, elephants can be “dangerous and deadly.”

However, McNair said these incidents rarely happen without the elephant having been provoked in someway. “These endangered elephants can be deadly dangerous, particularly when provoked or abused,” he said.

Elephant

A file photo of an elephant in India. The animals can wander into inhabited areas in search of food and water, causing conflict with humans. DIPTENDU DUTTA/Getty

He said that Asian elephants are particularly subject to “torture and stabbing” for easy use in the tourism industry.

“Elephants are generally benign, and passive … they don’t rush out of nowhere to attack people that pose no threat to their safety, or babies or to anything like that,” he said. “[This incident] is surprising because it shows no provocation of the elephant…”

McNair said the elephant coming back and handling the body during the body, could be down to their “extraordinary cognitive abilities.”

newsweek.com