Mourning elephants' sit-in
2001-11-15 21:56
Guwahati - A speeding passenger train killed two adult elephants and four calves on Thursday in India's northeastern state of Assam, a railway official said.
The train engine derailed but none of the passengers or railway staff were injured, senior railway official Robin Kalita told AFP.
A herd of nearly 100 elephants arrived in the area soon after
the accident, causing the passengers to flee and preventing efforts to right the engine.
The small herd of elephants was sitting on the tracks in the
evening when they were hit by the train, travelling from Ledo to
Dibrugarh, 550km east of Assam's capital Guwahati, Kalita said.
"Maybe the driver could not stop the train before it hit the herd, which caused the deaths of at least two adult elephants and four calves.
"The train's engine later got derailed due to the impact." The train had been carrying 200 passengers in five coaches.
The train, near the village of Bogapani, could not be reached
because of the some 100 elephants who had arrived after the
accident.
Mourning
"The elephants are now sitting on the track, apparently mourning the death of the six pachyderms. Our staff are unable to go near the train for fear of being attacked," the official said.
A team of forest officials and security forces were sent to
scare the elephants away.
"It will be very difficult to chase the herd as elephants
normally are very sensitive when pachyderms of the same group get
killed," a wildlife warden said.
Last year, five elephants were killed when a train ran over a
herd in eastern Assam's Karbi Anglong district.
Experts say wild elephants have been moving out of the jungles
as people encroach on their space.
There are an estimated 5 500 wild elephants in Assam out of 10 000 in the whole of India. - Sapa/AFP
- SAPA