Elephants electrocuted after beer-fuelled rampage

Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote north-east.

The 40-strong herd uprooted an electric pole while looking desperately for food on Friday in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 150 miles west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.

"There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away," said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.

The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in northeastern India.