After a lull of around a year, railway tracks in Amreli turned graveyard for endangered Asiatic lions yet again as three cubs were mowed by a goods train near Pipavav port late on Wednesday. The accident comes a day after a lion was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Mahuva town of neighbouring Bhavnagar district on Tuesday. The incident took place near Rampara village, a few kilometres away from Pipavav port. “The accident occurred around 7.30 pm when the lioness came out of a thicket with her three cubs. Coincidentally, a goods train on its way to Pipavav port also happened to pass through the same stretch. Since the track is lined by bushes on either side, nether the pilot of the train nor our railway trackers spotted the pride, resulting in death of the three cubs,” assistant conservator of forest (ACF) of Amreli, C B Dhandhiya, told The Indian Express. The ACT further said that the cubs were around four months old and that their mother had escaped unhurt. The train had been stopped after the accident, Dhandhiya added. [related-post] This is the first train accident involving Asiatic lion casualty since September last year. The railway line connects busy Pipavav port to the rest of India and crosses Rajula taluka, where, according to forest officers, around 60 Asiatic lions have settled. The track also passes through Liliya taluka of Amreli, another area where the big cats have settled over the last 10 years.
