RANCHI: A wild elephant delivered a calf near Hazaribagh-Barkakana railway line under Ramgarh Forest Division, during which, train operations were kept suspended for over two hours on the route. Thanks to the quick coordination between forest and railway officials that the situation was handled safely, ensuring the well-being of both the elephant and its newborn.

Though the incident, which took place early in the morning on June 25, it went unreported until Ramgarh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Nitish Kumar disclosed it on Tuesday.

According to the DFO, a herd of elephants wandering in the region arrived Sarawaha village via Bokaro and Ramgarh, during which, an elephant got separated from its herd and started roaming around Hazaribagh-Barkakana line.

“While it was about to cross the railway track, the female elephant which was pregnant, started experiencing labour pain and delivered a calf beside it. Since, it was raining heavily and water was flowing in the drain beside the track, the elephant had to struggle a lot to make its new born calf cross it safely,” said Kumar, adding railway officials were requested to stop the operation during the period.