Tragedy struck the Sundarban jungles of Eastern India when a fully grown male Bengal tiger reportedly snatched a man from inside a fishing boat and dragged him away. The victim of the tiger attack was a 62-year-old man named Sushil Majhi. According to the Times of India , the man who lived in a village called Lahirpur was fishing with his 40-year-old son Jyotish and adopted daughter Molina when the tiger attacked. The village is close to the border with the Sundarbans and has a creek that runs deep into the forest.
The incident happened at dawn on Thursday when the trio were busy fishing in a prohibited area. They were in a small boat with Jyotish sitting at the front, his dad in the middle, and Molina at the back. Apparently they had a difficult time balancing the small boat as they continued fishing. According to Jyotish, at around 7 am they sensed trouble and detected a strange odor, possibly coming from the tiger. They immediately decided to turn back and get to a safer area, as the region was notorious for tiger attacks in the past.
However, the decision to turn back was too late. Within minutes, the tiger who had been stalking them all the while went for the kill. The tiger leapt on to the boat, grabbed Sushil by its huge paws, and took him away. The entire attack lasted only a few seconds. The woman on the boat screamed out, and by the time Sushil could do anything, he saw the gruesome sight of his father being mauled by the giant tiger. Sushil adds that his father’s body was completely under the beast and that he could only see the man’s legs thrashing about.
In an attempt to rescue his father, Sushil and Molina grabbed a stick they had with them. They also had a sharp cutter which they used to attack the tiger. They managed to hit the tiger a couple of times, though it had little or no effect on the animal that was intent on getting his prey. As they watched helplessly, the tiger dragged Sushil Majhi on to its back and disappeared into the jungle, reports The Guardian .
The man is now presumed dead. Neither Sushil nor Mojhi dared to venture inside the jungle in an attempt to save their father. There were other fishermen in the area and they arrived within minutes. Sadly, the tiger had disappeared by then.
Authorities from the Sundarban Tiger Reserve have confirmed that there was indeed a tiger attack in the area and that it happened in an area where fishing has been banned. The area has seen three other deadly tiger attacks this year alone with no one surviving those attacks.
The Sundarbans is one of the largest reserves for the Royal Bengal Tiger and accounts for a good share of the world tiger population. Tigers are the largest members of the cat family and male specimens could grow up to 12 feet long and weigh up to 850 pounds. Several man-eating tigers have terrorized northern India in the past as well.
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]