West Bengal Tragedy: Train Collision Kills Elephant, Injured Calf Near Jalpaiguri

A tragic incident unfolded in the early hours of Sunday, November 30, in the Dhupguri area of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, where an adult elephant was killed after being struck by a train while a baby elephant accompanying it lay seriously injured.

According to the Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of the Northeast Frontier Railway, the train was going from Salbari to Kolaigram in the Alipurduar Division. The incident took place around 3:45 a.m. at pillar 73/7 in Nawapara, near Khalaigram railway station. 

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He added that the area has no prior record of elephant movement, and the railway had not received any alerts from forest officials or other sources about elephants being near the tracks. Suvendu Roy, the railway traffic inspector who is investigating the matter, said, "We received information about the incident around 4:30 in the morning. One elephant has died, and one has been injured. Forest officers have also been called.”

According to forest officials, an isolated herd of three elephants strayed onto the railway tracks, and two of them were struck and injured by the goods train. Forest officials had reached the site within an hour, and the injured calf is currently undergoing proper treatment in the nearby hospital.

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Elephant Gets Electrocuted In Tamil Nadu

In a separate incident, a wild male elephant was electrocuted in Tamil Nadu after getting entangled in an electric wire near the Kuppepalayam village, outside the forest area in Combatore. According to officials, the elephant was approximately 25 years old and the incident occurred approximately 500 meters from the Poluvampatti Range within Poluvampatti Block 2, Coimbatore Division.

The Coimbatore Forest Department reported that the accident was triggered by a recently installed electric line running along a public road. The elephant is believed to have toppled an electric pole, become caught in the live wire, and died as a result.