Asiatic lion run over by goods train near Pipavav port in Gujarat’s Amreli district

Forest officers said that four sub-adult lions—two males and two females—were trying to cross the railway track at the time of the incident and that two railway sevaks hired by the forest department to track lions’ movement along the railway line were trying to guide the animals to safety.

“The railway sevaks managed to help the two females cross the railway track. While they were trying to guide the two males also across the line, the railway sevaks spotted a goods train approaching from towards the port. They tried their best to guide the animals off the track and the loco pilot also applied emergency brakes. But before the train came to a halt, it ran over one lion and hit another,” Jayan Patel, deputy conservator of forests, told The Indian Express.

Patel said it was raining intermittently in the area and that visibility was also an issue. “In an attempt to warn the pilot of the goods train, our staff also flashed their torch towards the train but the collision with one lion couldn’t be prevented,” a forest officer said.

Patel said the injured lion had been shifted to Junagadh for treatment. “The injured male lion has been shifted to the Sakkar Baug Zoo in Junagadh for treatment. The two sub-adult lionesses, which were part of the pride of four, escaped unhurt,” he said.

Patel said that members of the pride of four lions, each around three years old, were trying to establish their territory while occasionally returning to their original pride also. “Due to the accident, train movement on the track remained suspended for around four hours. After recording statement of the pilot of the train, we allowed the train movement on the railway line to resume,” he said, “In his statement, the pilot said that he did his best to save the animals but as it was a double-decker loaded goods train, even after he applied emergency brakes, it covered some distance before coming to a halt.”

Pipavav is among the busiest ports of Gujarat and the railway line on which the accident took place connects the port with Surendranagar and gives the port access to the railway network of the country.

Asiatic lions’ only wild population in the world has been surviving in the Gir forest and other protected areas spread across Junagadh, Amreli, Gir Somnath and Bhavnagar districts in the state’s Saurashtra region. Many lions have settled in the coastal belt of Rajula with a thicket of gando baval (prosopis juliflora) providing them shelter and a healthy prey base, mainly of blue bulls and wild boars.

Lions often enter even the area of the Pipavav port. Many lions have been run over by goods trains over the past decade despite the forest department and the Bhavnagar division of the Western Railway taking a number of initiatives to prevent such incidents. They include erecting a chain-link fencing along the railway track, deploying railway mitras and restricting the speed of trains passing through the area.

“Last year, 106 lions occupied the railway track in 36 different incidents. However, on all occasions, our staff were able to prevent any accident by issuing caution orders to the railways as well as by guiding animals off the track. On Friday also, our staff managed to save two lions but one couldn’t be saved,” Patel said. “We have sought the speed data of the goods train involved in the incident to check if there was any violation of the restrictions.”