20-year-old elephant dies after being hit by train in Kerala

Palakkad, Oct 14: A wild elephant was killed after being hit by a train near Kanjikode in this north Kerala district early Friday, Forest department officials here said.

The mishap happened when the 20-year old jumbo, which had strayed from the nearby Walayar forest, tried to cross the rail track at around 3.15 AM, they said.

A Guwahati-bound train was passing through the area during the time, they said quoting local people. Besides the deceased female jumbo, an elephant calf was also suspected to have sustained injuries in the accident but it could not be found anywhere near the area, the officials said.

"We assume that the elephant calf sustained some injuries on its trunk. After the incident, it left for the forest along with the herd. So, a team of forest officials now went inside the forest to trace it," a senior wildlife official told PTI.

A post-mortem of the deceased jumbo would be conducted in the afternoon after the veterinarian reached here from Angamaly in Ernakulam district, he added. Local people said it was an area usually frequented by wild elephants in herds. Similar casualty of elephants had happened in 2016 and 2019 also in the same region.