The wild elephant, Bangabahadur, whose journey from India to Bangladesh was widely chronicled, died in Jamalpur this morning.

He suffered a heart attack and breathed his last at Koyra village in Sharishabari upazila around 6:30am, said Mustafizur Rahman, assistant veterinary surgeon of Bangabandhu Safari Park, Cox’s Bazar.

“There were multiple factors behind the heart attack. Stress, severe dehydration and electrolyte imbalance were the main factors,” our Jamalapur correspondent reports quoting Mustafizur.

The elephant got separated from his herd in Assam and came to Bangladesh through Kurigram's Chilmari upazila floating with the currents of Brahmaputra on June 27.

After Bangabahadur collapsed yesterday, the 17-member rescue team of the Bangladesh Forest department administered 12-litres of saline and tried to pick him up till last mid night, the correspondent reports in the morning quoting Mustafizur.

Bangabahadur fell down on the muddy field around 11:30am yesterday owing to the heat, lesser amounts of food and the way he had been tied.

“Concerned about Bangabahadur’s plight, we stayed on the spot and tried to save him till 3:30am. His temperature was recorded as 101 degree Celsius whilst their normal body temperature is 97 degree celsius,” Mustafizur added.

A team led by Mymensingh divisional forest officer Govindo Ray is headed for the spot and will conduct an autopsy of the elephant, wildlife inspector of the forest department Ashim Kumar Mallick said.

The body samples will be sent to Central disease investigation laboratory in Dhaka, he said.

The elephant will be buried in Sharisharibari upazila, he added.

The rescued elephant has been named Bangabahadur for its perilous journey across nearly 1,800 kilometres of submerged areas after it entered Bangladesh from India.