Nagaon: Nearly 18 wild elephants were found dead atop Bamuni Hills in Assam’s Nagaon district on Wednesday after lightning struck them during the showers in the area. According to the State Forest Department of Assam sources as per preliminary investigation, the animals appear to have been killed in a lightning strike.

A search operation has been launched in the area and the actual reason and number of elephants killed will be known in due course, said sources. The incident took place in Kandoli Proposed Reserved Forest (PRF) in Kathiatoli range of Nagaon Forest Division. As per the Forest official source, local villagers informed us about the death of the elephants. We rushed to the spot and found them lying on the ground. We have sent the carcasses for postmortem.

The area is very remote and our team could reach there on Thursday afternoon, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Amit Sahay. It was found that carcasses were lying in two groups. Fourteen were lying atop of the hill and four were found at the bottom of the hill,” he said. Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed the Minister to visit the spot and take necessary steps.