Assam: Train rams into elephant herd in Jorhat; mother, calf succumb to injuries

The officials said the incident took place at 10:50 pm on Sunday after the Naginimora Rajdhani Express hit the herd and the elephants were dragged almost fifty metres on the tracks

A female elephant and her calf died after being allegedly hit by a Rajdhani Express train in Assam’s Jorhat district on Sunday night, forest officials said on Monday.

An elephant and her calf at the Kaziranga national park in Assam. (ANI File Photo)

The officials said the incident took place at 10:50 pm on Sunday after the Naginimora Rajdhani Express hit the herd and the elephants were dragged almost fifty metres on the tracks.

The mother was around 21 years old while the calf was around 10 months old, according to the officials.

Forest officer of Jorhat district Biken Pegu said the matter is under investigation. “One female elephant and its calf were killed in the incident. We are investigating the matter and will take action,” he said.

The forest department had alerted the railway officials about the movement of elephants a few hours in advance, but the train’s speed was allegedly not brought down, they said.

“We informed railway officials about the movement of a herd of elephants on a WhatsApp group around 8 pm on Sunday and asked them to reduce the speed of the train. The railway officials did not cooperate. The accident happened at around 10:50 pm,” Pegu said.

“Our officials wrote letters to the railway department and requested that the trains must maintain prescribed speed limits, but responding to that, the Railways said they incur losses if that is done,” Pegu said.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials, however, denied the allegations, and said the area official was already notified because of the elephant corridor, and the speed of the train was below 50 kmph as per instructions from the forest department.

“It was almost 11 pm and visibility was poor. Still, our loco pilot tried to stop the train and save the elephants,” NFR official Sabyasachi De said.

He said in the last five years, over 1,100 elephants that came in front of moving trains were saved. “It takes around 500 metres for a train to stop in an emergency situation. In the last five years, around 35 elephants died but we saved 1,166. There has to be collective efforts from all sides to save elephants, only blaming the railways won’t help,” he added.

According to the NFR, this was the sixth accident this year when elephants were killed by speeding trains in Assam and in 103 cases, they managed to save the animals.

Forest officials said both the mother and the calf sustained fatal head injuries. They died after four hours of the incident but the forest department couldn’t provide appropriate treatment due to lack of facilities.

“We need proper treatment centre in upper Assam for quick response in such situations. We tried to bring medical teams from Guwahati but it took time. Both the elephants died before we could start treatment,” Pegu said.