A body of an elephant next to a train near Welikanda village, some 260 km east of the capital of Colombo on October 7, 2018 AFP

COLOMBO: A passenger train hit and killed three young elephants in eastern Sri Lanka, officials said yesterday, weeks after two calves and their pregnant mother were fatally struck in the same region. The Colombo-bound train with 600 passengers hit the herd near the village of Welikanda, 260 kilometers east of the capital on Saturday night, railway officials said. "Four compartments derailed, but fortunately there were no casualties among the passengers," a railway official said adding that the track was extensively damaged. The incident came less than three weeks after a similar crash involving a fuel train in the same region. The three elephants, part of a larger herd, were crossing the railway track at dawn in jungle near Habarana, 180 kilometers northeast of Colombo, when they were hit and killed late last month. The latest accident came even as the authorities investigated the previous crash to determine if the train driver had followed standard procedures while operating in jungle areas with elephant populations. - AFP