Baby jumbo among three killed by speeding train in Assam

Nagaon (Assam) [India], Dec. 5 (ANI): Three elephants - aged about 15, 13 and 3 years - were found dead by a railway patrolling team on Monday morning after they were hit by the 15905 Up Kanyakumari-Dibrugarh Vivek Express near Jugijan railway station in Nagaon District late last night. The incident happened when the herd of elephants was crossing the railway track from Kunduli Mari village to Santipur village at a location about 137 km from Guwahati railway station. The incident took place around 11.50 p.m., when a herd of wild elephants was crossing the railway track from Kunduli Mari village to Santipur village at a location about 137 km from Guwahati railway station and the trio came on the railway tracks and dashed against the train engine, said Pranav Jyoti Sharma, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Northeast Frontier Railway (N.F.Railway), in a statement issued here. The N.F. Railway has alerted the State Forest Department about the incident, however, neither the train was stalled nor were there injury to any passenger in the incident, he said. "The driver of the train reported the incident at Jugijan railway station at around midnight. The train was delayed by half an hour, but reached Dibrugarh this morning safely," said the CPRO. "The spot of dashing is not a notified elephant corridor. As such there was no speed restriction on the section. This is the first time that such an accident of train knocking down elephants happened at the location," said the CPRO. He added that following the incident, all train drivers are alerted to avoid recurrence of such accidents for the safety of passengers and elephants. (ANI)