FEMALE TUSKER KILLED IN TRAIN ACCIDENT

A female tusker, which was knocked down by a night-train on Wednesday (21) near the Poonawa Navy Camp in Medawachchiya, had died the next morning.

Navy personnel who witnessed the accident said that the tusker had been knocked down by the Intercity Train that had been heading to Va-

The animal was about 35-yearsold and had died due to internal hemorrhage caused by injuries to its vital organs as a result of the train crashing into it

vuniya from Colombo at around 9.30 pm. The elephant had been crossing the railway track along with a herd of elephants at the time of the incident.

The female tusker had breathed its last a few minutes before a Veterinary surgeon from the Wild Life Department had arrived with a team of officers, after being informed of the accident by Navy officials. According to Vet. Surgeon Chandana Jayasinghe, who handled the postmortem examination of the dead elephant, the animal was about 35-years- old and had died due to internal heamorrhage caused by injuries to its vital organs as a result of the train crashing into it.

Vavuniya Zone Wild Life Range Officer W.J.K. Herath said that this was not the first time that an elephant had come to grief at this point of the track as on two previous occasions four elephants including a baby elephant had also died in the vicinity. Non-compliance with speed limits prescribed for the protection of elephants had resulted in an increase in elephant deaths in the area, said the Range Officer. An officer of the Railway Department said that there was no damage to the engine of the train as a result of the accident.