A team of veterinary experts on Friday conducted post-mortem of the 18 elephants that were killed in a “lightning strike” on Wednesday night in Assam’s Nagaon district. 

From prima facie investigation, it is presumed that the elephants died due to lightning strike, with one of the elephants having burn injuries. 

However, the carcasses of the other 17 elephants do not have any burn injuries. 

The final report of the post-mortem would be submitted by the team of experts after one week. 

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With many alleging that the elephants died to poisoning, the team of experts has also collected the Visara samples of the elephants and have been dispatched for Toxilogical lab analysis. 

The toxilogical analysis will ascertain whether the elephants were poisoned as alleged by many. 

The team of veterinary experts comprises of seven members: Nagaon District Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Officer, Dr Abhijit Deka – Assistant Professor at AAU Khanapara, Dr Biswajit Dutta – Assistant Professor at AAU Khanapara, Dr Durlov Prasad Bora – Assistant Professor at AAU Khanapara, Dr Biswajit Baruah – Forest Veterinary Officer of Kaziranga National Park, Dr Bhaskar Chowdhury – Deputy Director of WTI and Dr Parikshit Kakati – Senior Program Officer Veterinary of WWF India. 

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At least 18 wild elephants were found dead under mysterious circumstances atop Bamuni Hills under Barhampur police station in Central Assam’s Nagaon district. 

This is the first case in the country, where such a large number of wild elephants have died together in an incident.