A fisherman was injured by a Royal Bengal tiger in the Kapur river of the Sunderbans on Thursday morning. This was the second attack by a big cat in the region in less than two weeks.
Sudarshan Sardar, 30, from Sonagaon village in Gosaba, survived the attack as he and his friends on the boat hit the tiger with their oars.
Sardar was rushed to the Gosaba block hospital, from where he was shifted to the NRS Medical College and Hospital.
Sources said details about the tiger or how badly it was injured remained unclear.
Sardar was part of a group of five fishermen that had ventured deep into the river to catch crabs with a permit.
“This is different from other cases of man-and-animal conflict, where fishermen venture deep into forests without permits,” said a forest official.
Uttam Ray, who was on the boat with Sardar, said they screamed for help and fought the tiger with oars for around 30 minutes. “Fortunately, people nearby alerted forest officials, who responded fast.”
“The group was lucky,” said a resident of the area.