Alipurduar, June 13: Thirty-six hours after the carcass of an adult tusker was found on the banks of the Sankosh in Assam, its post-mortem could not be conducted as the forest staff failed to reach the spot because of the overflowing river.

The body was spotted in the Kochugaon forest division yesterday morning by a group of people who had gone fishing in the Sankosh. They informed the Sankosh forest beat office under Buxa Tiger Reserve (East) in Bengal.

The Bengal team, which rushed to the spot, began keeping a close watch on the body till the arrival of Assam officers. The tusker had a radio collar — a devise to track the movement of elephants — around its neck.

The BTR officers later found that the Wildlife Trust of India had attached radio collars to six elephants in the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam and the carcass was that of one among them.

There is a stream called Fagu Doba in Bengal and Assam begins from across it. The isthmus, where the body was found, is between the Fagu Doba and the Sankosh. The Assam officers will take a detour through NH31C and reach the spot via Kumargram in Alipurduar subdivision tomorrow.

Suvankar Sengupta, the deputy field director of the BTR, said: “The carcass is lying in Assam. Our staff will guard the body till the Assam officers reach the spot. The cause of the death could be known only after the post-mortem.”

R.N. Bora, the divisional forest officer of Kochugaon Forest Division in Assam, said as the Sankosh could not be crossed because of the high water level, the Assam team would be able to reach the spot only next morning via Kumargram.