Speeding train in Assam mows down six elephants

Guwahati: In one of the most tragic incidents, five adult elephants and a calf were crushed to death by a speeding passenger train in central Assam’s Sonitpur district on Saturday night.

The incident took place at Bamungaon near Balipara in Sonitpur district where a herd of wild elephants, which came don from nearby hills, was crossing over the railway track. The elephants were hit by the Guwahati-Naharlagun Inter-City Express.

The Northeast Frontier Railways authorities said that train a running at the speed of nearly 75 km per hour as the area has not been designated as an elephant corridors.

“We have imposed a speed limit of 30 to 40 km per hour in the areas designated as elephant corridors. Our drivers have been given a list of elephant corridors along with the prescribed speed limit,” said the public relation officer of railways, adding that the place where incident took place has not been designated as elephant corridor so speed of the train crossing from the area was not regulated.

It is significant that the cases of man-animal conflict has gone up alarmingly in Assam during the current years with reports of frequent incidents of elephant herds entering the rural residential areas and causing massive damage to standing crops and property.

The conservationists attributed it to large-scale deforestation and growing number of new villages in forest areas. The wild animals are fast losing their natural habitat and forcing them to enter human habitation, they said.