As many as 139 greater flamingos were electrocuted in the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary ten days ago, forest officials said on Thursday. Following the incident, reflectors and flags have been placed and guards deployed near the towers carrying high tension cables. “Some 139 greater flamingos were electrocuted 10 days ago in this unfortunate incident,” D.K. Sharma, Kutch district Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) told PTI. “The flamingos, which were resting on the open space near the high tension cables on the road side might have got disturbed in the night due to some vehicular sound or other noise and tried to fly away and hit the high tension cables,” he added. This year an estimated 4 lakh greater flamingos arrived here as against the usual 40,000-50,000. Even the locals and regular bird watchers say that they had not seen such a huge number of the bird in the last 20 years or so, Mr. Sharma said. The migratory birds from Siberia which arrive here in the winter rest in open space near their nesting site about 30 km from where the incident took place. “Since the waters have not receded at the nesting site, which is also known as Flamingo City, the birds rest in open space in the sanctuary,” Mr. Sharma said. The ‘Flamingo City' is located in the Great Rann (desert) of Kutch where thousands of greater flamingos breed. They construct muddy nests, lay eggs and rear young ones. The Kharadi region where the incident took place is located about 50 km from the India-Pakisatn border. The Kutch Sanctuary is the largest sanctuary encompassing a saline desert, and is the only place in the country where the greater flamingo breeds regularly. — PTI