Seven elephants killed by train

A SPEEDING freight train struck a herd of elephants in a densely forested region in eastern India, killing seven.

The herd was crossing the tracks in Banarhat forest in West Bengal state at about midnight on Wednesday when the train ploughed into it, said Sumita Ghatak, a district forest officer.

"This is the first incident in the state when so many elephants have been killed in a single accident. It is really shocking," Mr Ghatak said.

Wildlife activists said they had complained to railroad authorities many times, asking them to divert trains to other routes or avoid running trains through forests at night, or to at least slow down as they go through.

India's wild elephant population was recently estimated at about 26,000.