A traveler train derailed after hitting a herd of elephants near a wildlife reserve in the center of Sri Lanka in the early hours of Thursday.
Although no injury was reported among the passengers, six elephants died of the accident in Habarana, east of the capital Colombo.
Two injured elephants were treated, said the police, noting that it was the worst fauna accident that the country had seen, AFP reported.
It is not uncommon for trains to come up against herds of elephants in Sri Lanka, where victims on both sides of human elephant meetings are among the highest in the world.
Last year, more than 170 people and nearly 500 elephants were killed during such meetings.
Elephants, whose natural habitats are affected by deforestation and narrowing resources, have become more and more distant in places of human activity.
About 20 elephants are killed by trains each year, according to local media.
Some have urged drivers to slow down and ring the train horns to warn the animals to come on the railways.
In 2018, an enclosure elephant and his two calves died similarly to Habarana after being struck by a train. The three had been part of a larger herd crossing the railways at dawn.
Last October, another train came across a herd in Minneriya, about 25 km from Habarana, killing two elephants and injuring one.
There are about 7,000 wild elephants in Sri Lanka, where animals, venerated by its Buddhist majority, are protected by law. Killing an elephant is a crime liable to a prison sentence or a fine.
