4 elephants killed by speeding train in India

A HERD of four elephants including an infant has been mown down by a speeding train in eastern India, in the worst incident of its kind since 2012.

A freight train travelling through a forest known to be an elephant corridor in the state of Odisha slammed into the elephants in the early hours of Monday morning. In the past decade, at least 22 elephants have been killed on train tracks in the state, reported the Hindustan Times.

 The latest incident occurred some 20km away from the Sambalpur elephant reserve, with forest officials believing the animals had come from the park.

“Although there was no elephant movement in the area for the past three to four months, the railway authorities were duly informed to reduce train speed in that section,” said a representative of the local forest authorities, Sushant Kumar as quoted by The Hindu.

“Besides, they were also requested to follow guidelines including making continuous hooting along the stretch,” he said.

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