Nagaon/ Guwahati: Eight elephants were killed and one injured after a herd was hit by the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam’s Hojai district in the wee hours of Saturday, a forest official said.
Five coaches and the train’s engine were derailed in the incident, though no injuries to passengers were reported, a Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the New Delhi-bound train met with the accident around 2.17 am.
Local residents claimed that the herd consisted of around eight elephants and that several of them were killed in the collision.
The accident site is located about 126 km from Guwahati. Following the incident, accident relief trains and railway officials rushed to the spot to initiate rescue operations.
Sources said that due to the derailment and elephant body parts scattered on the tracks, train services to Upper Assam and other parts of the Northeast were affected.
Passengers from the affected coaches were temporarily accommodated in vacant berths available in other coaches of the train. Once the train reaches Guwahati, additional coaches will be attached to accommodate all passengers, after which the train will resume its onward journey.
The incident occurred at a location that is not a designated elephant corridor. The loco pilot, upon spotting the herd on the tracks, applied emergency brakes. Despite this, the elephants dashed into the train, leading to the collision and derailment.
