Large railway accident in Habrana area of ​​Sri Lanka, passenger train collides with herds of elephants

Sri Lanka Train-Elphant Accident: A gruesome accident took place on Thursday (February 20) in Habrana area of ​​Sri Lanka. In this horrific accident, a passenger train collided with a herd of elephants in Habrana area. The collision of the train was so strong that 6 elephants died on the spot, while 2 other elephants were seriously injured in this incident, who are undergoing treatment. This train accident is considered to be one of the most horrific train and flocks collision of elephants in Sri Lanka so far in the island country Sri Lanka.

Such collisions and accidents between the train and elephants in Sri Lanka have become common now. According to organizations associated with conservation of wildlife, every year about 20 elephants die due to the grip of trains. Apart from this, more than 170 people and about 500 elephants died last year in the conflict between humans and elephants.

Elephants entering human area

Experts say that due to frequent harvesting of forests and lack of natural resources, wildlife, especially elephants, are being forced to enter human areas. During this time, they come to railway tracks, fields and villages and fall victim to some accident. While it has become common for elephants to collide with the train, in addition to this, they also become victims of electrocution, eating poisonous substances and poaching.

මීනගයා මීනගයා සීඝ් දුම්රිය අද පෙරවරුවේ ගල්ඔය ගල්ඔය ප් අලි අලි ගැටීමෙන් මඩකලපුව මාර්ගයේ දුම්රිය දුම්රිය ධාවනයට බාධා එල්ල වී ඇති බව බව දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පවසයි.#Lankadeepa #SRilanka #SLNEWS pic.twitter.com/zcmvgxfzyz

– lankadeepa (@lankadeepanews) February 20, 2025

Tragedy 😢🐘🚊🐘
The batticaloa-colombo train, ‘meenagaya’, has collected with a herd of elephants at gal oya, resulting in the tragic death of 5 elephants.

The collision has caused the train to derail, obstructing services on the line, the Sri Lanka Railways Says. pic.twitter.com/3ll7akjzje

– Sri Lanka Tweet 🇱🇰 (@Srilankatweet) February 20, 2025

Train drivers are also being instructed

Wildlife experts and local administration are constantly appealing to the drivers of the train to reduce the speed of the train while passing through the wild area and elephant corridors and warns elephants to arrive by playing the horn. However, this idea of ​​experts has not proved to be completely effective yet and such accidents are constantly coming out.

Many big accidents have happened before

This horrific accident occurred in Habrana area of ​​Sri Lanka is not the first such accident. There have been many such accidents in the past, in which elephants have lost their lives. In 2018, a pregnant elephant and her 2 children were killed by train in this Habrana area. The same, last year i.e. in October of 2024, a train hit a herd of elephants by a train in Minnaria area, 2 elephants were killed and one was injured in the incident.

Elephants get legal protection in Sri Lanka

It is noteworthy that elephants in Sri Lanka have legal protection. There are about 7,000 elephants in the country, which the Buddhist communities there consider to be revered. Killing an elephant in Sri Lanka is a legal offense, for which there is a provision for jail and heavy fine. Despite this, the continuous deaths of elephants and increasing cases of struggle between humans and elephants have been the cause of a major challenge for the government and wildlife experts.

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