Guwahati, Aug 4 (IANS) Three elephants died in Assam after being electrocuted on Friday, local officials said.

The incident took place at the Rani tea estate, located about 20 km from Guwahati.

Rohini Ballave Saikia, the Divisional Forest Officer in Kamrup East Division, told IANS: “One mother elephant and two calves were trying to bring down a betel nut tree when it got attached to a high voltage electric line. The three elephants were electrocuted and unfortunately passed away.”

According to Saikia, the incident occurred between 3.30 to 4 a.m. on Friday morning.

"We will conduct  post-mortem of the three elephants and later they will be cremated as per the procedure,” the officer said.

Wild tuckers often come out of the forest in search of food.

During the last few years, the man-animal conflict is on the rise in Assam and many lives have been lost due to this.