Railway accident in the Chapramari nature reserve

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In the railway accident in Chapramari Nature Reserve went on 13 November 2013 Nature Reserve Chapramari , in the district Jalpaiguri in the Indian state of West Bengal , a train of the Indian State Railways into a herd of elephants . 7 elephants died. It is said to have been the worst accident that ever happened to an elephant.

Starting position

The nature reserve is Chapramari from the railway Siliguri - Malbazar crossed. Wild Asian elephants also live here . In total, that should be around 26,000 in India.

In the Chapramari nature reserve, there have been repeated railway accidents with elephants. In an accident on February 8, 2002, one elephant was killed and two injured, in 2007 a total of 20 elephants were hit by trains in several accidents and died, and in another railway accident in 2010 seven elephants were killed. The latter accident resulted in a speed limit for trains in areas of the protected area where elephants are found to 40 km / h.

On November 13, 2013, at around 5:40 p.m., the Kavi Guru Express , train No. 19709, from Jaipur to Kamakhya approached the railway bridge over the Jaldhaka . Also near the shore, near the water, but also in the area of ​​the tracks, there was a herd of 40 to 50 elephants.

the accident

The train was traveling at a speed of around 80 km / h - and thus twice as fast as allowed by the speed limit. The engine driver couldn't brake in time when he saw the elephants and drove into the herd.

consequences

7 elephants died and 10 more were injured. An elephant died because it was thrown into the bridge structure, where the carcass later had to be cut out. As far as they could still walk, the animals of the herd initially fled, but soon returned to the scene of the accident to the injured animals.

The route was closed for 12 hours and the traffic had to be diverted extensively. If injured elephants could no longer walk, they were given medical care on site.

In Jalpaiguri there was a public demonstration against the alleged disregard of the speed limit on the railway - also because these violations occurred more often. It was also pointed out that Indian Railways has an elephant calf as its mascot . The Minister of State in the Indian Ministry of Railways, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury , pointed out that the accident happened outside of the areas considered to be used by elephants and that the responsibility for protecting the elephants lies with those responsible for the nature reserve and not with the railway .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Withnall: train Speeding ; Banerjee: Train Mows Down .
  2. ↑ Kumar: Train in India .
  3. ↑ NN: Elephant hit by train dies . In: The Times of India v. February 12, 2002.
  4. ↑ Alexander Abad-Santos: Elephants In India Keep Getting Killed by Trains . In: The Atlantic Wire v. November 14, 2013.
  5. ^ Somen Sengupta: Call of the Wild . In: The Statesman v. November 11, 2012.
  6. ↑ India Rail Info: 19709 / Jaipur-Kamakhya Kavi Guru Express .
  7. ↑ Banerjee: Train Mows Down .
  8. ↑ Kumar: Train in India .
  9. ↑ NN: Elephants Killed .
  10. ↑ Banerjee: Train Mows Down .
  11. ↑ Kumar: Train in India .
  12. ^ NN: Overspeeding .
  13. ↑ NN: Jalpaiguri: Locals block track over jumbo deaths, carcasses being removed . In: First Post v. November 14, 2013.
  14. ↑ NN: Locals block track over 6 elephant deaths in Bengal, carcasses being removed . In: The Times of India v. November 14, 2013.
  15. ↑ Banerjee: Train Mows Down .
  16. ↑ NN: Elephants Killed .
  17. ↑ Dinda: Blame game .