Train mows down elephant calf near Gulma station

EOI, Siliguri, 15 Dec 2015: Train services remained disrupted along the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary corridor till this morning after an elephant calf was run down by a Siliguri-bound passenger train near Gulma tea estate on Monday night. The engine of the train from Bamanhat in Cooch Behar reportedly crushed the calf when it was crossing the railway track in the tea garden premises. The train also got derailed in the process.

Sources said the speeding train came in the way of an elephant herd near railway pillar number 218 and many of the animals also received internal and external injuries. Workers of the forest department had a tough time extracting the carcass of the calf that had got stuck under the engine of the train. The ordeal was finally over only around 10pm.

Forest officials said since it was late in the night in the dense forest, it was difficult to ascertain whether other elephants had got injured or killed. One of them said a team has been formed to trace the remainder of the herd and determine their condition. This is the second such incident in three weeks. On November 22, an adult tusker was mowed down by a speeding goods train near Sishubari on the outskirts of Dalgaon forest in Birpara.

As per official records, as many as 62 elephants have been killed by trains on the stretch between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar Junction in 11 years. Meanwhile, railway officials said no reports of injury to the passengers have been received.