A pensioner in India was killed when he was struck by a cow that was tossed 30m up in the air after it was hit by an express train.

The freak accident happened when Mr Shivdayal Sharma, 82, was relieving himself on the railway tracks in the city of Alwar at India’s northern state of Rajasthan on April 18.

The former railway employee was hit by the animal and died on the spot.

Another man who was also relieving himself nearby narrowly escaped from being hit by the flying animal.

The police who were informed of the incident sent the body to a nearby hospital for post-mortem, before it was handed over to Mr Shivdayal’s relative for cremation.

Cattle deaths from train collisions are not new in India. Government data showed that trains in the country ran over more than 13,000 cattle in 2022, a 24 per cent rise from 2019.

Thousands of Indians take their cattle to graze on patches of grass alongside railway tracks, according to a BBC report. Many cattle owners also live close to the tracks or herd their cattle across railway tracks to get quickly from one place to another.

In November 2021, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that fences or boundary walls were being constructed alongside tracks in areas prone to trespassing by cattle.

Other measures to keep cows away include garbage and vegetation removal.