Colombo — A Sri Lankan categorical prepare killed an elephant and was derailed on Tuesday regardless of security measures launched after the nation’s worst wildlife railway accident three months in the past on the identical route. Native officers stated the younger wild elephant crossing the observe close to Habarana was run over by the identical prepare concerned within the February 20 accident that killed seven elephants. After that crash, officers imposed pace limits on trains passing by way of elephant habitats.
No passengers have been injured within the accident, which occurred some 110 miles by highway east of the capital Colombo.
Railway authorities stated an investigation was underway, and engineers have been making an attempt to place the Colombo-Batticaloa prepare again on the observe after the pre-dawn crash.
The authorities had earlier introduced adjustments to coach timetables and efforts to clear shrubs from both facet of the observe to enhance visibility for drivers, to offer them extra time to keep away from hitting elephants.
Wildlife officers have stated that 139 elephants have been killed by trains over the previous 17 years, since authorities started accumulating such information.
An indication alerts prepare operators to the presence of untamed elephants, close to the positioning the place a passenger prepare hit a herd and killed six elephants in Minneriya, Sri Lanka, Feb. 20, 2025.
Priyan Malinda/AP
The federal government has additionally introduced that 1,195 folks and three,484 elephants have been killed previously decade as a result of worsening human-elephant battle on the island.
Killing or harming elephants is a felony offense in Sri Lanka, which has an estimated 7,000 wild elephants — thought-about a nationwide treasure, partly resulting from their significance in Buddhist tradition.
Nevertheless, the killings proceed, as determined farmers wrestle with elephants raiding their crops and destroying livelihoods.
Many elephants have been electrocuted, shot, or poisoned. Generally, explosive-laden fruits are used to maim the animals, typically leading to painful deaths.
India, which has a wild elephant inhabitants greater than twice as giant as Sri Lanka, additionally offers with common train-pachyderm collisions. India has misplaced about 200 elephants during the last decade to coach accidents alone, and that’s along with excessive variety of deaths from poaching and unintended electrocutions.
The Indian authorities has launched measures to restrict prepare speeds in devoted elephant corridors, however campaigners say the foundations are sometimes poorly enforced.
Earlier this 12 months the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu turned the primary to launch a man-made intelligence and machine learning-enabled surveillance system to assist forestall elephant deaths on railways.
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