A veterinarian tends to the injured elephant in Guwahati on Thursday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Oct. 16: An adult, partially blind elephant was critically injured when it got hit by a goods train near Deepor Beel last night.

The female elephant was crossing the track around 9pm when the train, travelling from Azara to Guwahati, hurtled towards it.

It hit the elephant at Chakradeo in Deepor Beel, an international wetland.

“The elephant, aged between 35 and 40 years, was standing on the track when the train hit her,” a forest official said.

Though the train blew its whistle, the elephant remained rooted to the spot.

The official said local people came to the site on hearing about the incident and started making arrangements to push the elephant away from the track.

The elephant has suffered internal haemorrhage and has an incision on its left abdomen. It has also injured its hind leg.

“The elephant’s condition is critical and will have to be constantly monitored for the next 48 hours,” Bijoy Dutta, a doctor of the College of Veterinary Sciences, Khanapara, said.

Life-saving drugs have been administered and every effort is being made to save the elephant. “Around 25 bottles of saline have already been given and treatment is going on,” Dutta said.

This is the third incident on this stretch involving elephants. Two elephants died on August 10 last year and in 2004, three were killed.

These incidents have elicited demands from animal rights activists to shift the railway track from the elephant corridor.

“The place has become a permanent death trap for elephants as such accidents have been repeatedly happening,” Bibhuti Lahkar, an elephant expert at the NGO Aaranyak, said.

Rathin Barman of the Wildlife Trust of India said this incident proved that the issue had not been given serious thought.

A veterinary team from the Assam state zoo was dispatched immediately and doctors from the College of Veterinary Sciences later came to treat the elephant.

Sources said local residents were planning to block the tracks tomorrow as a mark of protest against the incident.