Elephant And Calf Killed By Train In Assam, Forest Officials Say Railways Was Alerted About Their Movement

In yet another incident of an elephant being run over by a train, a female elephant was mowed down by a Rajdhani Express train.

Elephant, Her Calf Killed: In yet another incident of an elephant being run over by a train, a female elephant was mowed down by a Rajdhani Express train. What adds to the tragedy is that her calf was also killed in the unfortunate incident which is being reported to have taken place near Kharikatia railway station in Assam’s Jorhat on Sunday night. This was confirmed by the forest officials on Monday. The forest department had alerted Railways about the movement of elephants in the area and requested them to control the train’s speed, but they didn’t oblige, an official said.

The forest officials said the incident took place at 10:50 pm on Sunday after the Naginimora Rajdhani Express hit the herd and the elephants were dragged almost 50 metres on the tracks. They informed that the mother was around 21 years old while the calf was around 10 months old.

Biken Pegu, the forest officer of Jorhat district said the matter is under investigation. “One female elephant and its calf were killed in the incident. We are investigating the matter and will take action,” he said.

“We informed railway officials about the movement of a herd of elephants on a WhatsApp group around 8 pm on Sunday and asked them to reduce the speed of the train. The railway officials did not cooperate. The accident happened at around 10:50 pm,” Pegu said.