Speeding train kills elephant near Guwahati; 3rd incident this year

In September, a female elephant and her calf were killed and few days back another elephant died in the Tinsukia division.

An adult male elephant was killed by a speeding train on the outskirts of Guwahati in the wee hours of Friday.

Local residents offer prayers to the wild elephant killed by a speeding train near Guwahati on Friday morning. (Sourced)

According to Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials, the incident took place between Digaru and Panbari stations around 3:30 am when the Agartala Rajdhani (Special) was passing through.

“Around 11 pm on Thursday night, we were informed by the local forest official about elephant movement on the elephant corridor in that area. We took all necessary precautions,” said S Chanda, CPRO, NFR.

“The forest official informed at 3 am on Friday that the elephants have moved away from the site. The incident took place 30 minutes after that, outside the designated elephant corridor. The train halted for nearly 20 minutes before proceeding towards Agartala,” he added.

This is the third instance of wild elephants getting killed by speeding trains in Assam. In September, a female elephant and her calf were killed and few days back another elephant died in the Tinsukia division.

In October, forest officials had seized a railway locomotive for an incident involving a female elephant and its calf---the first such instance in the country.