A herd of 18 wild elephants have been found dead at Bamuni Hills in in Nagaon, in the north-east state of Assam.
- The preliminary post-mortem report indicates they the elephants were killed on May 12, 2021 when lightning struck the Kundoli proposed reserve forest in the Kathiatoli range.
- The carcasses of 18 elephants were found at two separate locations.
- Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had expressed concern over the incident and asked Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya to visit the spot to inquire into the matter.
- According to the 2017 census, Assam has the second highest number of elephants in India after Karnataka. The elephant population in Assam increased from 5,246 in 2002 to 5,719 in 2017.
- According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), a total of 186 elephants were killed after being hit by trains across India between 2009-10 and 2020-21. Assam accounted for the highest number of elephant casualties on railway tracks (62).
