04 February,2021 02:09 PM IST | Bhubaneswar | PTI
A herd of elephants. Pic: iStock
Two elephants were killed after being hit by a goods train in Rourkela forest division area in Odisha's Sundargarh district, officials said on
Thursday.
The incident took place on Wednesday night when the jumbos were crossing the railway tracks on the Howrah-Mumbai route near Mahipani in Bisra region, they said.
The movement of trains on the route was affected for a few hours following the incident, a South Eastern Railway official said.
"The goods train was going towards Shalimar from Nashik when the accident happened. Restoration works have been completed and the train services resumed," Bangamunda
assistant station master Nishant Kumar said.
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The incident has triggered a blame game between the state forest department and the railway authorities.
Rourkela division's assistant conservator of forest Tankadhar Behera said, "Our officials made attempts to stop the train which was passing through the elephant zone at a 90-km per hour speed. We tried to inform the driver about the presence of the jumbos."
