Train kills seven elephants crossing tracks in India
Seven wild Asian elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train crashed into a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam, local officials said.
Indian Railways spokesperson Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told The Associated Press that the train driver noticed the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brake, but the train still hit some of the animals.
Sharma said that five train wagons and the engine derailed after the collision, but there was no loss of life.
Veterinarians performed autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day.
The crash site is a forest area about 125 kilometers southeast of Guwahati, the capital of Assam.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote that he was “deeply saddened” by the news of the deaths of three adult animals and four calves at X on Saturday.
We are deeply saddened by the deaths of seven elephants, including three adults and four calves, in a tragic train accident earlier today. I have directed the Forest Department to conduct a detailed investigation into this extremely disturbing accident and take steps to further enhance our safety…— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) December 20, 2025
Railway tracks in the state are frequently used by elephants, but Indian Railways said in a statement that the accident site was not a designated elephant corridor.
The Rajdhani Express train, which set out from Sairang in Mizoram state on the border with Myanmar, hit elephants while it was about to go to the capital New Delhi with 650 passengers.
“We disconnected the coaches that did not derail and the train continued its journey towards New Delhi. Around 200 passengers in the five derailed coaches were transported to Guwahati in a different train,” said Sharma. he said.
In Assam, home to an estimated 7,000 wild Asian elephants and one of the highest concentrations of pachyderms in India, it is not uncommon for high-speed trains to hit wild elephants.
At least a dozen elephants have been killed by bullet trains across the state since 2020.
In August, India’s Environment Ministry told parliament that at least 79 elephants had died as a result of such accidents in the last five years, NDTV reported.
Wild elephants often enter human habitats at this time of year when rice fields are ready for harvest.
with DPA
