Guwahati: Three elephants were killed after they were hit by a speeding train while trying to cross over the railway track around midnight at Jugijan area in central Assam. Two of the killed elephants were pregnant , a forest official said.
The Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), Pranabjyoti Sharma confirmed that Up Kanyakumari-Dibrugarh Vivek Express met with an accident near Jugijan railway station in Nagaon district in central Assam at around 11.50 P.M. on Sundaynight when a herd of wild elephants came on railway tracks and dashed against the train engine.
“However, neither the train was stalled nor there was any injury to any passenger. The driver of the train reported the incident at Jugijan railway station at around midnight. The train was delayed by half an hour but reached Dibrugarh this morning safe. A railway patrolling team this morning discovered carcasses of three elephants aged about 15, 13 and 3 years at the accident site and alerted Assam Forest Department,” the CPRO said.
Locals said that the train was travelling at high speed and did not comply with the standing instruction of the Assam Forest Department to slow down during the night while approaching areas frequented by elephants.
Trains are also supposed to constantly whistle while crossing identified elephant corridors.
However, the railway official claimed that site of accident did not fall on a notified elephant corridor and as such there was no speed restriction on the section. “This is the first time such an accident of train knocking down elephants happened at the location. Following the incident, all train drivers are alerted to avoid recurrence of such accidents for the safety of passengers and elephants,” the railway official said.
A total of nine elephants were killed due to train-hits in Assam in 2015.
