In brief
In a heartbreaking event, six elephants have lost their lives after being hit by a train in Habarana, Sri Lanka, with authorities urging measures to prevent such tragedies.
A passenger train derailed after striking a herd of elephants near a wildlife reserve in central Sri Lanka in the early hours of Thursday. While no injuries were reported among passengers, six elephants died from the accident in Habarana, east of the capital Colombo. Two injured elephants were being treated, police said, noting that it was the worst such wildlife accident the country had seen, AFP reported.It is not uncommon for trains to run into herds of elephants in Sri Lanka, where casualties on both sides of human-elephant encounters are among the highest in the world. Last year, more than 170 people and nearly 500 elephants were killed in human-elephant encounters overall, with around 20 elephants reportedly killed by trains annually, according to local media.As elephants' natural habitats are affected by deforestation and shrinking resources, they have increasingly strayed into human-populated areas. Some wildlife advocates have urged train drivers to slow down and sound their horns to warn animals ahead on the railway tracks. In a tragic parallel, a pregnant elephant and its two calves also died in Habarana in 2018 when struck by a train as they attempted to cross the tracks at dawn.Last October, another train in Minneriya, around 25km (15 miles) from Habarana, similarly collided with a herd, resulting in the deaths of two elephants and injuries to another. In Sri Lanka, it is estimated that there are around 7,000 wild elephants. These majestic animals are revered by the country's Buddhist majority and are protected by law, with any killing of an elephant punishable by imprisonment or heavy fines.
