A passenger train struck a herd of elephants in northeastern India, killing seven of them instantly.
A senior Assam police officer said that seven jumbos were killed, and one elephant sustained an injury.
No passenger casualties or injuries were reported.
The New Delhi-bound train was involved in an accident around 2:17 am. The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express connects Mizoram’s Sairang (near Aizawl) to Anand Vihar Terminal (Delhi).
Around 200 passengers who were in the five derailed coaches were moved to Guwahati in a different train.
Deforestation and construction activity near their habitats force elephants to stray further afield for food, often bringing them into conflict with humans.
According to parliamentary figures, 629 people were killed by elephants across India in 2023-2024.
Speeding trains hitting wild elephants is not rare in Assam, which is home to an estimated 7,000 wild Asiatic elephants, one of the highest concentrations of the pachyderm in India.
Since 2020, at least a dozen elephants have been killed by speeding trains across the state.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordered a comprehensive investigation into the incident.
“We are deeply saddened by the death of seven elephants – three adults and four calves – in a tragic train collision earlier today,” he wrote on X.
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.
