A herd of elephants was hit by a train in Assam’s Hojai district in the wee hours of Saturday, killing at least seven of the pachyderms and injuring one, said a forest official.
The accident, which occurred at around 2.17 a.m., also led to five coaches and the engine of the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express being derailed, said a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesperson. However, no injuries to passengers were reported.
Nagaon divisional forest officer Suhash Kadam said that the incident occurred at Changjurai area of Hojai district due to heavy fog. He reached the site along with other forest officials.
“Autopsy of the seven dead jumbos is underway, and treatment is on for the injured one by local veterinary doctors. Cremation will be done near the accident site. Legal formalities are being followed,” he said.
Trains scheduled to pass through the affected Jamunamukh-Kampur section have been diverted through the UP line, and restoration work is underway, he added.
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NFR chief spokesperson Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said the accident took place in the Jamunamukh-Kampur section under the Lumding division, about 126 km from Guwahati.
He claimed that the accident took place at a location which is not a designated elephant corridor. “The train driver, on observing the herd of elephants, applied emergency brakes. However, the jumbos dashed with the train,” he added.
Helpline numbers - 0361-2731621 / 2731622 / 2731623 - have been activated at Guwahati railway station, he said.
The passengers of the affected coaches were temporarily accommodated in the vacant berths available in other compartments, and the train, without the derailed coaches, left the site for Guwahati at 6.11 am.
"The passengers will be accommodated in additional coaches, which will be added to the train at Guwahati, and the train will resume its journey after that," Sharma added, and said accident relief trains, along with top officials from the divisional headquarters, have already reached the site.
The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express connects Mizoram’s Sairang (near Aizawl) to Anand Vihar Terminal (Delhi).
India lost 528 elephants due to unnatural causes over five years up to July 2024, with the primary causes being electrocution, train accidents, poaching and poisoning.
This human-animal conflict is driven primarily by habitat loss and fragmentation, forcing animals to venture into human-dominated landscapes for food and water.
Railway lines passing through designated elephant corridors in states like Assam, West Bengal, and Odisha are the most frequent cause of elephant deaths because of being hit by speeding trains while crossing the tracks.
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