Lightning strike kills 18 elephants

GUWAHATI: As many as 18 wild elephants have been killed, most likely due to lightning, in Assam’s Nagaon district, officials said on Thursday.

“The incident took place in the Bamuni area of Barhampur on Wednesday. Our officials came to know about it on Thursday. Teams of forest and veterinary officials are at the spot to take stock of the tragedy,” Nagaon deputy commissioner Kavitha Padmanabham said.

The deaths took place in an area with small hillocks and forests. Officials suspect the elephants, which were part of a herd, were staying close to each other when lightning struck. While four bodies were found at the bottom of a hillock, 14 others were found at the top.

“Preliminary investigation of the spot suggests lightning could be the reason for the deaths. All the elephants killed were adults and sub-adults,” Vasanthan, divisional forest officer (Nagaon), said.

“We are trying to recover all the bodies and conduct a postmortem examination. The exact cause of the deaths would be known only after the results are out, most likely by Friday,” he added.

According to a 2017 census, Assam (5,719) has the second highest number of elephants in