Death Of An Elephant And Calf By Train Hit In Assam Shows How Dangerous Railway Tracks Have Become
Train hits are one of the biggest causes of unnatural elephant deaths in India, and tragically the number of fatalities only keeps on growing. On Monday, a female elephant was killed after being hit by a speeding Rajdhani Express near Titabar in Assam's Jorhat district. Her 10-month-old calf which was also hit by the train on Sunday night had died on the spot.
Train hits are one of the biggest causes of unnatural elephant deaths in India, and tragically the number of fatalities only keeps on growing.
On Monday, a female elephant was killed after being hit by a speeding Rajdhani Express near Titabar in Assam's Jorhat district.
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What a sad scene. But no point in saying so. Nobody cares. Two mother elephants & a calf killed in a train collision in Mariani, Assam. Train crushed & broke her both hind legs. Suffering from unbearable pain, she has passed away in river, cursing people from bottom of her heart. pic.twitter.com/FjY6ihyGOv
¡ª Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi (@NANDANPRATIM) October 10, 2022
Her 10-month-old calf which was also hit by the train on Sunday night had died on the spot.
Injured elephant continues to be in pain
Another elephant injured in the incident is still alive and is under treatment.
I wrote yesterday about the tragic death of an elephant in a train collision in Mariani, Assam. Look at the condition of the third elephant, which has been still struggling in the water for more than twenty hours after being hit by the train with severe injuries to all four legs. pic.twitter.com/9hkteAMCGp
¡ª Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi (@NANDANPRATIM) October 11, 2022
According to the Forest Department, the elephant herd was crossing the railway tracks near Kharikatia railway station on Sunday night when the 22 years old jumbo and her calf were hit.
Railways was alerted about elephant movement
Forest Department added that an alert was sent to the local railway authorities about the movement of elephants.
After that disturbing video of the #rhino being hit on the highway that prompted CM @himantabiswa to issue a statement .. more bad news coming in from #Assam - 3 #elephants hit by a speeding train.. Info and photo shared by @rathinbarman pic.twitter.com/i8TvYxZEwQ
¡ª Bahar Dutt (@bahardutt) October 10, 2022
Northeast frontier railway officials said that the train was travelling at over 50 kmph and even though the loco pilot had applied emergency brakes the collision could not be avoided.
#WATCH | This is how Hindus treat animals ?
¡ª Ashutosh Sharma (@AshutosSharma25) October 10, 2022
Two wild elephants k!lled after being hit by a passenger train in #Assam but the way people performed last rites of the elephants shows the Sanskar of Hinduism.#HimantaBiswaSarma pic.twitter.com/rFp2P6N3WQ
Elephant deaths on railway tracks
In December 2021, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had said that in the ten years between 2010-2020 a total of 1,160 elephants were killed in India due to reasons other than natural causes.
Out of this, electrocution accounted for more than half of the unnatural deaths.
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While a total of 741 elephants were killed after coming into touch with live wires, 186 jumbos lost their lives on railway tracks.
45 elephants killed by train in 2019-20
In August, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishaw informed the Lok Sabha that forty-five elephants were killed in train accidents in the period 2019-2021.
Ten elephants, including two within the East Coast Railway zone, were killed in 2019.
The Northern and Southern railways recorded two deaths each and the Northeast Frontier Railway registered four deaths.
In 2020, 16 elephants died in collision with trains. The East Coast Railway and the Northern Railway zones recorded two deaths each. The Northeast Frontier Railway zone recorded six deaths, while the Southern and South Eastern Railway recorded three deaths each.
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In 2021, 19 elephants died. While the Northern Railway and North Eastern Railway zones recorded two deaths each, the East Coast Railway recorded three deaths. The Northeast Frontier Railway recorded five deaths, the Southern Railway (4), the South Eastern Railway (2) and the South Western Railway (2).
Environmentalists have long accused the railways of failing to take steps to reduce such incidents. They have also pointed out that Railways have so far not taken any action against loco pilots involved in such accidents.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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