E-Paper
Lightning killed 18 elephants in Assam, says pathology report
The report prepared by department of pathology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University mentions that “lesions are suggestive of high voltage electrical burn injury” as the tentative diagnosis of the tests
The histopathology, and technical reports on the deaths of 18 wild elephants in Assam earlier this month have cited lighting as the cause.
These, along with the forensics test report conducted by the state government, have ruled out poisoning, which was suspected by some as a probable cause of deaths. The final investigation report on the May 13 deaths at Kanduli Hills area of Nagaon district is expected in the next few days.
“We received report of the histopathology tests conducted by the department of pathology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University (AAU), on Sunday. This more or less confirms lightning as cause of the death of the elephants,” said Vasanthan, divisional forest officer, Nagaon.
The report prepared by Prof SM Tamuli and assistant professor A Deka mentions “lesions are suggestive of high voltage electrical burn injury” as the tentative diagnosis of the tests.
“We examined the tissues and other materials provided by the forest department and found desquamation of the keratinized layer (peeling off of the external layer of the skin,” said Prof Tamuli.
The report accessed by HT also mentions “distortion and separation of intra epidermal tissues” and “separation of epidermal and dermal layers, highly dilated and congested blood vessels and severe haemorrhage observed in the dermal papillae as well as in the sub-epidermal region”.
A preliminary technical report on incidents of lightning over and around the site where the elephants’ bodies were found by North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) says that many lightning strikes took place in the area between 5.30am on May 12 to 5.30 am on May 13.
“A large number of lightning strikes were reported around the area where the elephant bodies were found. The total number of lightning flashes reached 350 and CG (cloud to ground) flashes were 150 every 2 hours. That is a clear indication of the high flash rate over the area and its severity,” the report accessed by HT mentions.
Officials said the report of the forensic tests conducted at the Assam government laboratory in Guwahati has also ruled out poisoning as the likely cause of the deaths. HT hasn’t seen its contents.
