GUWAHATI: Two elephants, including a calf, were killed after being hit by Rajdhani Express in Assam. Another sub-adult elephant was injured in the incident, which occurred on Sunday midnight at Kharikatia near Mariani in Jorhat district of upper Assam.
The elephants had strayed out of the Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, 5 km away from the site of the incident. While one of the slain elephants was 22 years old, the other was aged 10 months. The forest department said the railway authorities were alerted about the movement of the jumbos.
“The site is outside the normal speed restriction zone. Nevertheless, our staff on duty did alert the railway authorities,” Assam’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests MK Yadava told this newspaper. However, a senior railway official said the accident occurred at a notified elephant corridor where there is a 50 kmph speed restriction. “The loco pilot had applied the emergency brake but the train did not stop before hitting the elephants,” the official said.
The local residents expressed anger as the veterinary doctors arrived several hours later to treat the injured elephant. A team of forest officials and police personnel were at the site, monitoring her health and movement. She covered a distance, crawling.
“We are in the field, giving treatment to her. We gave antibiotics with food. She has eaten it,” Divisional Forest Officer Nandha Kumar told this newspaper from the site. He said the animal was not tranquilised as the vets said it might collapse if it has internal bleeding and is tranquilised.
“We have to keep her under observation for the next 24-48 hours. If she is not able to walk even after 48 hours, we will have to tranquilise her to treat her properly,” Kumar said.