Two elephants were electrocuted and two run over by a train within 24 hours in Assam.
Forest officials said a goods train hit a female elephant and her calf in central Assam’s Hojai district around 1.15 a.m. on Sunday.
On Saturday, two elephants were electrocuted after they came in contact with a live wire on the periphery of the Rani Reserve Forest near Guwahati in Kamrup district.
Probe ordered
Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) officials said a goods train “moving at permissible speed” hit the elephant and her calf between Lamsakhang and Patharkhola. The spot is one of the 67 notified elephant corridors across five divisions of the NFR covering the north-eastern States, northern West Bengal and parts of eastern Bihar.
“The speed limit at the corridor is 30 kmph. A departmental inquiry has been ordered into the mishap,” an NFR spokesperson said.
Forest officials said they had been regularly updating the NFR on the movement of elephants along the corridors and it was no different in the case of the two elephants killed.
At Rani, one of the elephants died after its trunk touched a live wire while uprooting a bamboo. The other elephant was electrocuted while trying to save its companion.