Three Asiatic lions run over by goods train in Gir; Gujarat forest department orders inquiry into incident

Gandhinagar: After losing as many as 23 Asiatic lions in a section of the Gir forest area in recent times, another set of three lions from a pride lost their lives as speeding goods train run them over in the wee hours of Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_5333561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The Gujarat forest department has ordered an inquiry into the circumstances leading to the accident. A goods train travelling in Savarkundla range of Amreli, en route to Pipavav from Botad in the wee hours of Tuesday, ran over two males and a female lion, killing them on the spot, forest officials said. The three were moving along the tracks as part of a pride of six. One of the male lions was aged around 2 years, while the other male and the female were both aged around 1.5 years. “This unfortunate accident took place in revenue area near Barola village under Savarkundala range of the East Gir forest. We have ordered an inquiry into the accident. It will take some time to get the exact details about how the accident took place. We have also sought information from the railway authorities about the speed of the train,” said DT Vasavada, the Chief Conservator of Forest, Junagadh and spokesperson for the forest department. “Our men from the forest are keeping a close eye over the rest of the three lions of the pride to ensure that they don’t come near the railway tracks where their kin got killed,” Vasavad told IANS.