A female elephant, aged between 15 and 20 years, was knocked down by the Mangalore-Chennai Central-West Coast Express (Train 22638) on Friday on the Walayar–Ettimadai section, about 3 km inside the Tamil Nadu boundary.
According to information provided by the loco pilot to the railway traffic control cabin, the elephant was knocked down at 6.10 a.m. a little ahead of Ettimadai station, while two others crossed the track. It is learnt that the jumbos were returning to the forest after consuming fodder and water. The injured elephant crossed the track and started descending a gradient when it collapsed.
Forest Range Officers M. Senthil Kumar (Madukkarai Range), C. Dinesh Kumar (Booluvampatti) and Karthikeyan from Kerala rushed to the spot and provided medical aid, but the jumbo died at 9.25 a.m.
