Darjeeling: Two elephants were mowed by a train in the plains of the Darjeeling district on Wednesday. Jumbo deaths owing to collision with speeding trains is a major problem in North Bengal. The incident occurred at Dilsaramjote under the Batasi gram panchayat of the Kharibari block in the Darjeeling district on Wednesday morning. "We got information of the twin deaths around 5 am on Wednesday. A team rushed to the spot. The elephants, both females were mowed down by the 75744 Siliguri Katihar Express," said Sheikh Fareed, divisional forest officer (DFO) Kurseong. The elephants were both females of 15 year and 3 year of age. A herd of 40 odd elephants had been seen wandering in the locality for the past one month. This morning around 4:45 am when the herd was returning to Tukuriajhar forest of Kurseong forest division, two elephants fell prey to the speeding train. "Such an incident has occurred in this locality for the first time. We will conduct an inquiry in coordination with the RPF and GRP" There were talks that the 14 year old female elephant was pregnant. "That can be confirmed only after we receive the post mortem report. Post mortem has been conducted and the carcasses have been disposed (cremated,)" stated the DFO. The forest department is contemplating legal recourse against the Railways. In another incident alert engine drivers of a dolomite laden cargo train saved the lives of two elephants. The jumbos were crossing the railway line at 26/6-7 post between the Sevoke-Gulma station at around 5 pm on Tuesday. The train driver Anil Kumar Sharma and co-driver Mukesh Kumar spotted the two elephants crossing the tracks. The drivers immediately stopped the train by applying emergency brake. The two jumbos then disappeared into the forest.

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