A female elephant was killed while an elephant cub was severely injured after being mowed down by a speeding express train at Lumding in Assam’s Hojai district.
The train, which mowed down the elephants, was 13176 Kunchanjunga Express (Silchar-Sealdah).
The incident took place near Pathorkhola railway station under Lumding Railway Division in Hojai district on Friday evening at around 7:15 pm.
During the incident, the train was moving towards Sealdah.
Officials of the forest department and Lumding Railway Division immediately rushed to the spot to recover the carcass after receiving information.
Later, the elephant cub was rescued and taken away for treatment.
The elephant cub is now undergoing treatment at the campus of the Lumding Forest Range office.
Talking to Northeast Now, Pulak Choudhury, divisional forest officer of Hojai said, “The entire area is an elephant reserve. Our night patrolling team was on duty as usual, but even after that, this incident has happened. We are investigating the matter.”
Last year, a pachyderm was killed by the Guwahati-Ledo Intercity Express near Lumding Railway Station as the elephant was left behind by a herd of 10 elephants while crossing the railway tracks.