Lightning kills five elephants in West Bengal
|
|
|
| Posted
:
Fri, 04 May 2007 09:36:01 GMT |
| By
:
Indo Asian News Service |
| Category
:
India (World) |
| News Alerts by
Email ( click
here ) |
|
India World News |
Home
|
|
|
|
Kolkata, May 4 At least five elephants were killed by lightning in a West Bengal wildlife reserve, officials said Friday.The animals died Thursday in a tea estate under the Buxa Tiger Reserve area in the state's northern region.Their carcasses were found by tea garden workers on the bank of a river near the New Lands Tea Estate in Alipurduar area of Jalpaigur district, 700 km north of Kolkata.'We suspect that the elephants died of lightning when they came to drink river water. There were no external injuries or evidence that the elephants were poisoned or electrocuted by poachers,' Buxa reserve official Subhankar Sengupta told IANS.However, he added that the exact cause of death could only be ascertained after the post-mortem reports were available.'This seems to be a case of death from lightning, which is very rare. Perhaps it occurred because the elephants were in a river bed and there were no trees around to protect them from lightning,' said Animesh Bose, an official of the Himalyan Nature and Adventure Foundation (HNAF) in Siliguri.Shakti Ranjan Banerjee of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) agreed that the cause could be lightning.In the last two years, at least 12 elephants were killed either in accidents on the Dooars railway track or by poaching and electrocution in the northern region of West Bengal.Expressing serious concern over the elephant deaths, West Bengal Forest Minister Ananta Roy said the forest department should probe the unnatural deaths. (c) Indo-Asian News Service
|
|
|
|
|
|
Related News
Dalai Lama begins visit to India's disputed Arunachal Pradesh
New Delhi - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrived Sunday to a resounding welcome at the monastery town of Tawang in India's eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China considers a disputed region. Thousands of maroon-robed monks and loc...
16 killed in Nepal as bus falls from mountain
Kathmandu - At least 16 people were killed and more than two dozen injured Sunday when a passenger bus plunged off a mountain highway in western Nepal, police said. The bus fell about 250 metres off the narrow highway in the Arghakhanchi district, ab...
Arunachal to host Dalai Lama despite China's protests - Feature
New Delhi - The remote town of Tawang in India's eastern Arunachal Pradesh was preparing Saturday for a much-awaited visit by the Dalai Lama that has stirred a hornet's nest in India-China relations. The Tibetan spiritual leader is set to embark on a...
Sri Lanka speeds mine-clearing to hasten resettlement of displaced
Colombo - The Sri Lankan government will step up its mine- clearing efforts in former rebel-held areas in the northern part of the country to resettle 159,000 displaced persons before the end of January, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Thur...
India, EU ink nuclear pact, aim at trade treaty by 2010 - Summary
New Delhi - India and the 27-member European Union Friday signed an agreement on a nuclear energy project and decided to conclude a free-trade pact within a year. Issues such as climate change, the global financial crisis and energy security featured...
30 killed as bus plunges into gorge in India - Summary
New Delhi - At least 30 people were killed Friday when an overcrowded passenger bus fell into a gorge in India's mountainous northern state of Himachal Pradesh, news reports said. The bus skidded off a highway and plunged into a 30-metre gorge in Kan...
Amnesty calls on EU, India to protect human rights in South Asia
New Delhi - The European Union and India should work together at the United Nations to protect human rights in places of crisis, particularly in the South Asian region, Amnesty International said Friday. The call came in a letter sent to Swedish Prim...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
