3 elephants run over by train while being chased

Three elephants, including two calves, ‘were run over by a train near the Banstola station in West Bengal, officials said on Friday, with witnesses adding that elephants were being chased by a hulla party from the Jhargram area of the district when they reached the railway tracks where they were mowed down.

- Jayashree Nandi and Joydeep Thakur

Officials from the forest department alleged that they alerted the railway department about the movement of the elephants, but the speed of the trains passing through that stretch was not reduced. The officials also denied involvement of the hulla party.

The incident took place shortly after midnight on Friday, when the elephants, part of a larger herd, that probably came from Jharkhand’s Dalma forest was traversing, police said.

“Three elephants - a female elephant, its calf and a sub-adult - were killed on the railway tracks between Sardiha and Banshtola stations in Jhargram district in the early hours of Friday,” said Sandeep Sundriyal, chief wildlife warden of West Bengal.