NAGAON\/ GUWAHATI, Dec 20: At least seven elephants were killed, and one was injured after a herd of jumbos was hit by the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam\u2019s Hojai district early Saturday, officials said.
\nFive coaches and the train\u2019s engine were also derailed, they said.Initially, all eight elephants were reported to have been killed, though later it was said that one of them was found injured.
\nNo passengers were injured in the accident, which occurred at 2.17 am, the officials said.
\nNagaon divisional forest officer Suhash Kadam said that the accident in Changjurai village is suspected to have occurred due to heavy fog in the area.
\n\u201cAutopsy of the seven dead jumbos is underway, and treatment is on for the injured one by local veterinary doctors. Cremation will be done near the accident site. Legal formalities are being followed,\u201d he said.NFR chief spokesperson Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said the accident took place in the Jamunamukh- Kampur section under the Lumding division.
\nThe area is about 126 km from Guwahati.
\nHe claimed that the accident took place at a location which is not a designated elephant corridor. \u201cThe train driver, on observing the herd of elephants, applied emergency brakes. However, the jumbos dashed with the train,\u201d he added.
\nSharma said accident relief trains, along with top officials from the divisional headquarters, have already reached the site.The NFR general manager and the divisional railway manager of Lumding have also rushed to the site, he said.
\nHelpline numbers \u2014 0361-2731621 \/ 2731622 \/ 2731623 \u2014 have been activated at Guwahati railway station, he added.
\nThe NFR spokesperson said the passengers of the affected coaches were temporarily accommodated in the vacant berths available in other compartments, and the train, without the derailed coaches, left the site for Guwahati at 6.11 am.
\nThe passengers will be accommodated in additional coaches, which will be added to the train at Guwahati, and the train will resume its journey after that, he said.
\nTrains scheduled to pass through the affected section have been diverted through the UP line, and restoration work is underway, Sharma added.<\/p>\n
The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express connects Mizoram\u2019s Sairang (near Aizawl) to the Anand Vihar Terminal in Delhi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAGAON\/ GUWAHATI, Dec 20: At least seven elephants were killed, and one was injured after a herd of jumbos was hit by the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam\u2019s Hojai district early Saturday, officials said. Five coaches and the train\u2019s engine were also derailed, they said.Initially, all eight elephants were reported to have been killed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"gutentor_comment":0,"yoast_head":"\n