Another three elephants faced calamity at Namalgama in Welikanda, where they were knocked down by a night mail express train on Saturday night.
They were hit by the Colombo-bound night mail express train from Batticaloa around 9.40 p.m., police said.
The three elephants had been severely injured and died on the spot.
The train had derailed due to the accident.
When the accident happened there had been about 600 passengers and none of them were reported injured. Later, the officers took steps to provide the passengers with transport facilities by road. Investigations into this incident are being conducted by the Welikanda Police together with Wildlife and SLR officers.
The elephant – train accidents along the Batticaloa line had become a big threat to the jumbos for a long time. This was the second such major accident that had taken place within the past three weeks where a herd of elephants were killed. At dawn on September 18, three elephants were knocked down by the Batticaloa-bound fuel train while they were crossing the track at the 127-milepost between Habarana and Palugaswewa Railway Stations. Among the dead elephants on that occasion was a pregnant she-elephant. The train was also derailed in that accident.