Agartala: An elephant carcass was found near railway tracks at Teliamura in the Khowai district of Tripura on Saturday with its tusk missing, forest department officials said.

The forest department experts, who reached the spot upon receiving information from the locals, said that the elephant was middle-aged and was suspected to have died after a possible collision with a train.

Teliamura Forest Beat officer Tapan Saha said they reached the spot after getting a phone call about the incident. The concerned department has initiated a search operation to find the missing tusk, they said.

According to officials, several incidents of man-animal conflict have been reported in different parts of the district in the past few weeks. In order to reduce the conflict, the forest department decided to tag the elephants with radio collars this February to their movements.

Earlier, the state government took the initiative to grow elephant fodder in the forest areas and started a project for beekeeping in agricultural fields to thwart elephants.