Railtrack tragedy... How did elephants die on track?

The Elephants, aged between 12 and 25 years were crawled by the train, the Mangaluru-Chennai Express (12686), for about a few meters along the 'B' line (old track) in Mahindramedu at 9.05 pm. The train was coming from mangalore towards chennai Central Railway Station. The tragic incident took place when the train with about 2,500 passengers was crossing the coimbatore suburbs. The female elephant, which went with two cubs, was crossing the tracks. Then the train, which was traveling at lightning speed, collided with three elephants. All three elephants fell to death. The tragedy took place near the wooden bridge garden of Mavuthampathi village next to coimbatore Navakarai, exactly across the walayar area bordering the state of Kerala. All three dead were female elephants.


The big elephant was dragged some distance on the tracks and died in the train collision. The baby elephants were thrown into a nearby ditch and died. Foresters rushed to the spot and removed the body of the elephant from the tracks. rail traffic on that route has been temporarily suspended. Large crowds gathered there at night as well. They paid homage to the bodies of the elephants by burning camphor. 

The Forest Department is investigating both the train drivers who caused the accident, Subair and Akhil. They also confiscated the locomotive that caused the accident. The Palakkad-Coimbatore railway line is densely forested. Importantly, the area where elephants used to move a lot. 

While traveling in such tracks, there should be speed control. But, it is not followed by the railway department. Since it is a forest area, the forest department has to set up an observation tower to monitor the movement of wildlife including elephants. For many years the demand arose, where the watchtower was not fully set up. As a result of the negligence of the two departments, the railway line has continued to become a breeding ground for elephants.

On the same track, in the last few years, 3 elephants were killed when they were hit by a train at the same time. Since 1978, 28 elephants have been killed by a train on this route. government departments need to be gently careful further in order to avoid such accidents.

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