Train mows down, kills 5 elephants in east India
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In this Sept 1, 2012 file photo, a villager offers flowers to a female adult elephant lying dead on a paddy field in Panbari village, about 50km east of Gauhati, India. The elephant was hit by a train and killed while crossing railway tracks with a herd of wild Asiatic elephants. --PHOTO: AP
BHUBANESHWAR, India (AP) - A passenger train has ploughed into and killed five elephants of a herd crossing railroad tracks in eastern India.
Mr R.N. Mohapatra, a railroad spokesman, says the train struck the animals early Sunday in the Rambha forest area, about 180 kilometers south of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state.
Mr J.D. Sharma, chief conservator of the state's wildlife department, accused the railroad authorities of ignoring his department's warning that trains should slow down because a herd of elephants was moving in the area.
Mr Mohapatra said the warning came too late.
