A man who had ventured deep inside the Sunderbans to catch crabs and fish died after being mauled by a tiger on Tuesday morning.

Samaresh Ray had set out on a small boat with several others from Kultali in South 24-Parganas, a forest department official said.

According to the forest department official, the tiger attacked Ray from behind deep inside a forest. Before the other men could realise what was happening, the animal had dragged him away.

The men hit the tiger with axes and sticks, but it managed to drag Ray deeper into the forest. Officials of the forest department and villagers later recovered the body.

The lockdown and Cyclone Amphan, which has left most fields and ponds in the Sunderbans inundated with saline water, have resulted in loss of livelihood for many people, according to foresters and

people working for the welfare of those living in the Sunderbans.

Even inexperienced groups have been venturing into the forests in search of a living, an official said.

“Many migrant workers have returned to their villages after losing their usual means of livelihood during the lockdown. Several have fallen back on the forest and have taken to catching crabs and fish in order to make ends meet,” Sagnik Sengupta, a member of Stripes And Green Earth (SAGE), an NGO, said.

More than 20 fishermen have been killed since March 2020 in tiger attacks in the mangroves — two more than the number of persons killed in 2019.