5 jumbos run over by train in Assam

GUWAHATI: Five wild elephants, including a pregnant female, were killed after being hit by a speeding train near Balipara in central Assam early on Sunday.

The incident took place around 1.15am near Bamgaon tea estate, nearly 210km from Guwahati, when the herd crossing the train track in search of food was hit by the Guwahati-Naharlagun Donyi Polo Express (15617).

All five died on the spot. A stillborn calf was later extracted from the pregnant female.

The incident comes three weeks after two elephants were killed by a speeding 15909 Awadh Assam Express at Thakurkuchi,

THE INCIDENT COMES THREE WEEKS AFTER TWO ELEPHANTS WERE KILLED BY A SPEEDING AWADH ASSAM EXPRESS

19 km from the state capital.

“It is a very tragic incident. Our staff was focused on another herd of nearly 100 elephants in a different area and there was no information of pachyderm movement in the area where the accident took place,” Davinder Suman, divisional forest officer, Sonitpur East, said.

Wild elephants come out of forest areas this time of the year in search for food and sometimes get hit by trains while crossing railway tracks to move towards paddy fields.

Sixteen elephants were killed by speeding trains in 2016. This year, a dozen have lost their lives in similar manner.

Measures taken by the state forest department and railway authorities such as increased patrolling near tracks, coordination between various departments and awareness campaigns among others have only managed to reduce the number of such accidents.

Assam has the highest number of wild elephants in India—5,620 as per 2011 census. Increased deforestation and construction activity near their habitats force elephants to move out of reserve forests in search of food.

The state has witnessed numerous instances of human-elephant conflict as villagers resort to measures like poisoning and electrocution to save their standing crops and property.

Between 2006 and 2016, wild elephants killed 785 people in the state, while 225 pachyderms fell victim to poaching, speeding trains, poisoning, electrocution etc. between 2001 and 2014.

In a bid to reduce such deaths, the Northeast Frontier Railway recently started experimenting with placing a device near railway tracks that amplifies buzz of bees to make elephants, which are scared of the stinging insects, will stay away from the tracks when they hear the sound.