Train mows down 3 elephants in Assam

THREE ELEPHANTS were killed after they were hit by a train near Jugijaon railway station in Nagaon district of central Assam on Sunday night.

While the train was delayed by about 30 minutes due to the accident, the carcasses of the elephants were discovered by a railway patrolling team at the accident site on Monday morning, Northeast Frontier Railway CPRO Pranav Jyoti Sharma said.

“Neither was the Dibrugarhbound Vivek Express train stalled, nor was there any injury to any passenger... The train reached Dibrugarh safely on Monday morning,” the CPRO said.

A forest official said the incident happened when the elephant herd was crossing the railway tracks from Kundulimari village towards Santipur village, 137 km east of Guwahati railway station.

The railways, however, said that the spot where the incident took place was not a notified elephant corridor.

“The spot where the incident occurred is not a notified elephant corridor, and as such there was no speed restriction on the section. This is the first time such an incident of a train knocking down elephants happened at that location,” CPRO Sharma said.

A forest official said that while one of the dead elephants was about four years old, the other two were adult females, both of which were pregnant.

This was the second time that elephants have been killed by trains in Assam this year. Earlier, two elephants were killed when the Dibrugarhbound Rajdhani Express hit them near Khatkhati railway station in Karbi Anglong district.