Three elephants, including two calves, were run over by an express train near Banstala railway station in West Bengal's Paschim Midnapore district, police said on Friday.

The incident, which took place on Thursday night, occurred when an elephant herd that probably came from Jharkhand's Dalma forest was traversing, they said.

The three pachyderms were mowed on the tracks by a speeding Janshatabdi Express on the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section, a police officer said.