At least three people were trampled to death by an elephant and several injured when an intoxicated man teased the animal yesterday during a Hindu festival in southern India, police said.

The male elephant went berserk in a town in Kerala state and destroyed a temple's theatre and tower, as hundreds of people ran in fear. "The elephant was provoked by a man who was drunk," police official P.S. Suresh said.

Indian television channels showed pictures of the elephant repeatedly trampling the man, hurling another with its trunk and attacking other elephants.

Forest officials rushed to the spot and fired tranquillisers to calm the elephant, Ebby Mathew, director of a company that owns elephants in the region said.

Hundreds of captive elephants are booked in advance by organisers of fairs and festivals in southern India to attract people and often cause accidents.

At least 49 people have been killed by elephants in southern India since August 2006, the Kerala Elephant Lovers Association said.