Royal Bengal Tiger dragged fisherman from his boat in Sundarban

A peaceful fishing turned into a terrifying tragedy in the Sundarbans when a Royal Bengal tiger suddenly jumped from the thick jungle and dragged a fisherman Tapas Halder straight off from his boat. The incident happened at Sindurkati jungle, close to Boni Camp, where Tapas from the adjacent Nagenabad village under Kultali's Moipeeth Coastal thana was sitting alone in the boat while his two companions Gopal Paik and Nepal Paik were in shallow water collecting crabs.

In a split second, the tiger grabbed Tapas and vanished into the dense jungle, leaving his friends frozen in fear and unable to do anything. The shocked friends shouted leadng the other nearby fishermen rushed to the spot, but there was no sign of Tapas or the tiger. They searched inside the jungle for hours as well but found nothing. By yesterday night, the two friends returned to their village and shares the heartbreaking news to Tapas’s family. Cries and sorrow filled the house as Tapas' family members and neighbours gathered, praying for a miracle even though everyone fears the worst.

Forest department teams have launched a search operation but finding someone taken by a tiger in the vast Sundarbans is very difficult. This is the second such attack in just a few days – on last Monday, young fisherman Sambhu Sardar was killed in the same way while he was fishing in Chamta jungle area of Sundarban. With tiger attacks rising, villagers who depend on the forest for their livelihood are living in constant fear and pleading for more safety measures.