A passenger train crashed into a herd of elephants in eastern India, killing eight animals. The agency reports this PTI.
The incident happened at night in the eastern state of Assam. A Rajdhani Express train traveling from Sairang to New Delhi crashed into a herd of wild elephants. According to local forestry, eight animals died.
As a result of the incident, 5 carriages and the train engine were derailed. The Northeast Border Railway management board said: “However, there were no passenger casualties.”
Trains that would have passed through the affected railway section were diverted along another route. Restoration work is underway.
According to the latest data, there are more than 22 thousand wild elephants in India. The state of Assam is second after the state of Karnataka in terms of population. The republic has created 33 dedicated elephant reserves and 150 corridors connecting different areas where the animals live so they can migrate, avoiding dangerous areas.
Every year in India, up to 20 elephants die in railway accidents. To solve this problem, the country has introduced a system that records the movements of large animals near the tracks and transmits the information to the dispatcher or driver through a special application.
