NEW-DEELHI, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - A group of four wild elephants has been struck by a train while walking along railway lines in the state of Orissa in eastern India, local media said Thursday.
The goods train dragged the animals along the rails for 70 meters, leaving two adult females dead and one calf with serious injuries. The injured elephant has been taken to a zoo near the state capital Bhubaneswar, where he will undergo medical and psychological treatment.
Rescuers are now searching for another young elephant, which ran into the forest after also being badly injured.
Such cases have become routine in India, primarily because of deforestation and increasing railroad traffic. Elephants have to move from one forest to another in search for food and safer habitats. They have already learned to avoid trucks at highways, but they still find it difficult to adapt to railways.
