An elephant died after it was hit by the Howrah bound Gitanjali superfast express in Odisha's Sundargarh district today, which also led to disruption of train services on the busy Howrah-Mumbai route for sometime.
The Howrah-bound Gitanjali Express hit the female elephant at Sagra near the cement township of Rajgangpur. The pachyderm died after being dragged up to 100 meters from the spot and its carcass was lying on the track, official sources said.
The train managed to pass without much of difficulty and reached Rourkela on time.
However, the herd did not leave the spot and stood guarding the body for quite some time, they said adding train services was disrupted for around four hours.
Sanjeet Kumar, DFO Rourkela said the herd appeared to have approached the track from Bamra side. The jumbo was hit from the back and the body was dragged for about 100 meters from the spot, he said
Railway personnel cleared the track with the help of Forest department officials, sources said.
Earlier on November 14, at least six elephants were mowed down by a speeding train inside Chapramari forests, around 18 km from the Banarhat area in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal.
