By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 11:55 EST, 12 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 12:03 EST, 12 March 2014 . A rampaging elephant demolished a house in a remote Indian village before saving a baby trapped under the rubble. The incident took place in Purulia district of the east Indian state of West Bengal, a region where man-animal confrontation is a regular phenomenon. The elephant, which locals say has killed people in the past and has wrecked more than a dozen houses, rampaged through the house at night when the family was inside. (Stock picture) An elephant rampaged through a village in West Bengal destroying a house. Then it returned to help a child trapped under rubble, witnesses said . It started to move away from the rubble, but hearing a baby girl's cries it returned, the family said. The jumbo then 'carefully' removed with its trunk the wreckage that had fallen on the 10-month-old child and headed back to the forest. The girl's mother said the incident was a miracle. 'We . worship Lord Ganesh (the elephant god) in our village. Still, I can't . believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door . and smashing a wall,' Lalita Mahato said. 'We watched amazed as it gently removed the debris that had fallen on her. It's a miracle.' The baby's father Dipak Mahato told The Times of India: 'She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot. The incident took place in Purulia district of the east Indian state of West Bengal, a region where man-animal confrontation is a regular phenomenon . 'The tusker started moving away but when our child started crying again, it returned and used its trunk to remove the debris.' The girl suffered some external injuries from the debris but is in a stable condition, doctors said. According to the region's forest officials, the  rampage was quite 'surprising' because it had killed three people in the last one year. 'What's really surprising is that this elephant left the little girl alive even after damaging the house. It seems to have a heart, too,' forest ranger Samir Bose said. Man-elephant confrontations have been on the rise in the region since changes in land use patterns blocked the traditional migration routes of the animals. Bose said the same elephant had damaged at least 17 houses and destroyed crops in the district's villages.
Locals say jumbo has killed people before and wrecked several homes .
But when it heard a baby's screams it turned back to help save her .
Witnesses said the jumbo 'carefully' removed rubble on top of baby .
Incident took place in Purulia, in east Indian state of West Bengal .
By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 11:55 EST, 12 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 12:03 EST, 12 March 2014 . A rampaging elephant demolished a house in a remote Indian village before saving a baby trapped under the rubble. The incident took place in Purulia district of the east Indian state of West Bengal, a region where man-animal confrontation is a regular phenomenon. The elephant, which locals say has killed people in the past and has wrecked more than a dozen houses, rampaged through the house at night when the family was inside. (Stock picture) An elephant rampaged through a village in West Bengal destroying a house. Then it returned to help a child trapped under rubble, witnesses said . It started to move away from the rubble, but hearing a baby girl's cries it returned, the family said. The jumbo then 'carefully' removed with its trunk the wreckage that had fallen on the 10-month-old child and headed back to the forest. The girl's mother said the incident was a miracle. 'We . worship Lord Ganesh (the elephant god) in our village. Still, I can't . believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door . and smashing a wall,' Lalita Mahato said. 'We watched amazed as it gently removed the debris that had fallen on her. It's a miracle.' The baby's father Dipak Mahato told The Times of India: 'She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot. The incident took place in Purulia district of the east Indian state of West Bengal, a region where man-animal confrontation is a regular phenomenon . 'The tusker started moving away but when our child started crying again, it returned and used its trunk to remove the debris.' The girl suffered some external injuries from the debris but is in a stable condition, doctors said. According to the region's forest officials, the  rampage was quite 'surprising' because it had killed three people in the last one year. 'What's really surprising is that this elephant left the little girl alive even after damaging the house. It seems to have a heart, too,' forest ranger Samir Bose said. Man-elephant confrontations have been on the rise in the region since changes in land use patterns blocked the traditional migration routes of the animals. Bose said the same elephant had damaged at least 17 houses and destroyed crops in the district's villages.
a remote Indian village before saving a baby elephant, which locals say has killed people in family said. The jumbo then 'carefully' removed the 10-month-old child and headed back to the the cot. The incident took place in Purulia district of the east Indian state of West Bengal,