AI camera saves lives of 3 elephants in Odisha’s Sundargarh, averts major rail accident | Watch viral video

A major rail accident was prevented in the Sundargarh district of Odisha after an artificial intelligence (AI) camera alerted authorities to an elephant herd approaching railway tracks.

In the incident that took place in the Rourkela forest division, the lives of three elephants were saved.

The AI camera detected the elephants as they approached the railway tracks. An alert was sent to the Forest Department’s control room by the AI system just in time after which an oncoming train was stopped.

Susanta Nanda, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, shared the details of the incident on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

“AI camera captures & zooms into the elephants approaching the railway line, sending alerts to the control room for stopping the train. We had solutions. Happy to see that the ones implemented are now giving results,” Nanda wrote.

The post also carries a video of the elephants.

The video, featuring two adult elephants and a calf, has gone viral and garnered more than 3 lakh views.

According to the latest elephant census conducted last month, 2,103 elephants were found in different forests of Odisha.

Odisha lost 857 elephants since 2014-15

Odisha has lost 857 elephants in the past 11 years, with electrocution being the key cause of unnatural death of the animal, state’s Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia said on Tuesday.

Diseases, accidents, and poaching were some of the other reasons for elephant deaths in the state, Singkhuntia said in the Odisha Assembly.

According to the statistics furnished by the minister, 149 elephants were electrocuted to death between 2014-15 and 2024-25 (till December 2) while poachers killed 30 elephants.

Diseases claimed the lives of the highest number of elephants (305) and natural reasons have been attributed as the cause of 229 elephant deaths.

The minister said that 29 elephants were killed after being hit by trains. Similarly, seven others died in road accidents and two by poisoning.

Ninety-three elephants died in 2018-19, the worst year in elephant deaths during the period. As many as 92 elephant deaths were reported in Odisha during 2022-23 whereas 54 pachyderms died in 2014-15, the lowest among these 11 years.