29 elephants killed in rail accidents in India since 2007

New Delhi - Twenty-nine elephants have been killed after being knocked down by trains across India since 2007, Parliament was informed Wednesday. .

Minister of Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh told lawmakers in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament, said "In affected states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam, Railways and Forests departments are meeting periodically to evolve and implement more mitigatory measures."

Giving year-wise details, Ramesh said that six jumbos died in 2009 while 8 and 15 respectively died in 2008 and 2007 in the country.

The official statement comes nearly 11 days after a female elephant was killed and another pregnant pachyderm injured when a speeding freight train knocked them down while they were crossing a rail track after having a bath and drinking water in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam.

While one died on the spot, the pregnant injured gave birth to a calf after it too was hit by a Guwahti-bound train. The injured female later crossed the tracks and disappeared in to the jungle.

Northeast Frontier Railway spokesman S S Hajong, quoting local witnesses, said the elephant that got killed apparently put its trunk forward while the goods train was passing that area.

Local villagers have told officials that a herd of wild elephants, which had come to the Deepor Beel (Wildlife sanctuary) for bathing and drinking water, was trying to cross the tracks, one of the elephants somehow moved its trunk towards the tracks as the train was passing by."

Herds of elephants come down to the Deepor Beel almost every day, prompting the railways to run trains in the area at just 10 km per hour.

The February 28 incident was the sixth such case in Assam state in an train accident during the last three months, Indian newspapers have reported.

Four elephants including two calves were mowed down by a speeding train between Diphu and Doldoli stations in Karbi Anglong district in central Assam on January 2, one male elephant was killed by a train near Hojai in Nagaon district on December 22.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/313365,29-elephants-killed-in-rail-accidents-in-india-since-2007.html.