(Adnkronos) – Six elephants on the tracks derail a passenger train. It happens in Sri Lanka. The six elephants died, two others were entrusted to the care of veterinarians. No consequences for the passengers of the train which was traveling near a nature reserve, police confirmed, while images circulating on the web capture the sad end of the elephants killed by the force of the impact with the train.
For the country, what happened in Habarana, east of the capital Colombo, is the worst accident of its kind in the history of the country, where it is not unusual for trains to run into ‘families’ of elephants, considered a ‘national treasure’. Here the specimens in freedom are about seven thousand.
Among the saddest incidents that have seen them involved is that of September 2018 when two elephant cubs and their pregnant mother died in similar circumstances. And there are also cases of difficult ‘coexistence’. In recent days, the authorities have expressed concern about the increase in data relating to ‘accidents’ between humans and elephants in some areas of the country. There would be farmers exasperated by attacks on their crops, increasingly inclined to take it out on elephants. And in 2023, official figures say, the toll spoke of 450 elephants and 150 people killed in ‘clashes’.
