Six elephants died after hitting the train in Sri Lanka

In the early hours of Thursday, a passenger train derailed after hitting a herd of elephants near a wildlife reserve in Central Sri Lanka.

While there was no injury among the passengers, six elephants died due to an accident in the former Habrana in the capital Colombo.

The AFP reported that two injured elephants were being treated, given that the country had seen the worst such wildlife accident.

It is not uncommon for trains to run into flocks of elephants in Sri Lanka, where the number of casualties on both sides of human-fetus flock is the highest in the world.

Last year, according to local media, more than 170 people and more than 500 elephants were killed in the encounters of Manav -Hathi – and about 20 elephants are killed by annual vehicles, according to local media.

Elephants, whose natural habitat is affected by deforestation and shrinking resources, have rapidly deviated into places of human activity.

Some have urged train drivers to slow down the train horns and give voice to warn animals on railway tracks.

In 2018, a pregnant elephant and her two calf collided with a train like this in Habrana in a similar way. All three were part of a large herd crossing the train tracks in the morning.

In the last October, another train ran into a herd in Minarneria, about 25 km (15 mi) from Habrana, two elephants died and injuring one.

There are estimated 7,000 wild elephants in Sri Lanka, where animals are revered by their Buddhist majority, protected by law. Killing an elephant is a crime that is punishable with imprisonment or fine.