Speeding train kills elephants in Jalpaiguri
By ANIThursday, September 23, 2010
JALPAIGURI - Five elephants killed and two critically injured after a speeding goods train rammed a herd in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri District.
The train’s staff escaped unhurt.
“At around 11 p.m., a goods train hit a herd of wild elephants while passing through the Totopara Forest. This incident killed five elephants and left two critically injured,” said Darpana Dutta, Additional Divisional Forest Officer of Jalpaiguri District.
Locals of nearby villages, on Thursday, helped officials remove the corpses of the elephants from the railway tracks while the injured elephants were taken to a veterinary hospital.
This is not the first incident of its kind as speeding trains have killed several pachyderms over the years. Around 18 elephants have been killed in the Siliguri district alone in the past year. By Tarak Sarkar (ANI)
