Agartala:�A full-grown elephant was severely injured after allegedly being hit by a speeding train in Tripura's Khowai district, an official said on Sunday. District Forest Officer (DFO) Akshay Balu Bhorde told PTI that the elephant was bleeding profusely following the accident that happened on Saturday night.
It was given preliminary treatment and a team from the state veterinary hospital was sent to the spot, he said. "A local train, which was going from Agartala to Dharmangar on Saturday night, hit the elephant at Champlai. The elephant herd was moving from one habitation to another when the accident happened," Bhorde said.
"The train, which was supposed to run at low speed (20 km per hour) as it is an elephant corridor, might have crossed to 50 km per hour, leading to severe injuries to the elephant," he said. Bhorde said both back legs of the elephant were severely fractured, and it cannot even crawl due to the injuries.
Northeast Frontier Railway's CPRO Kapinjal Kishore Sharma, however, said, "It was not exactly known what has happened because the loco pilot is not aware of any mishap." "The loco pilot cautiously passed the elephant corridor. A probe is on to know what exactly occurred on Saturday night," he added.
The forest officer said that an elephant had died in February after being hit by a train at Champlai, a designated elephant corridor. "After the February incident, we had asked the railway authorities to limit the speed while crossing the elephant corridor between Teliamura and Mugiakami. Last night's incident could have been avoided had the loco pilot operated the train within the speed limit of 20 km per hour as we had suggested," he said.�