The pregnant elephant died after being hit by a dolomite-laden goods train.
Despite rigorous efforts by Indian Railways to prevent the elephant deaths due to railway accidents, a pregnant elephant was hit by a goods train in the Chapramari Reserve forest in Alipurduar district of West Bengal early this morning.
"The incident took place at 3:00 am in the morning. This was a goods train and according to the news I have received it was carrying dolomite. We will have to find out why goods trains are running at night because on this line movement of goods trains are restricted. There are speed restrictions also," Chief Conservator of Forest, Rajendra Jakhar told reporters.
"The railways will be able to tell you about the speed of the train after looking at their records but the nature of the impact was such that the foetus completely came out which shows the impact was severe. We also saw blood marks on a lot of sleepers which means the carcass was dragged for some distance," Mr Jakhar added.
According to the locals, the incident occurred when a pregnant elephant was crossing the railway track inside the Chapramari Reserve forest, through which the railway line runs. The pregnant elephant died in the early morning today after being hit by a dolomite-laden goods train bound for Siliguri from Alipurduar according to reports.
Officials of the forest department reached the spot after receiving the news of the incident. The forest department will perform the last rites of the mother and the unborn baby elephant after post-mortem.
Railway accidents remain one of the causes of unnatural elephant deaths in West Bengal, which is home to around 2% of the country's elephant population.
The Indian Railways have advised train drivers to be careful and motormen have been advised to apply emergency brakes on the railway tracks inside the forest, whenever possible, to save the lives of elephants in the area. But, despite the efforts, this morning an elephant death happened in the after the elephant was being hit by a train.
In June this year, two elephants were reportedly killed after being struck by lightning at the Bamandanga Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.