A 36-year-old man, who went to catch crabs and fish in the Sunderbans area on Saturday morning, died after a tiger attacked him when he was chopping firewood in the forest, an official said.

Goshto Naiya had set out on a small boat with three other men from the Deulbari area near Kultali in the South 24-Parganas forest range on Saturday morning, the official said. He was attacked by the tiger from behind in the Chituri forest where he had gone to cut firewood, the official said.

Tigers are being frequently spotted in areas that are not considered to be hot spots because of the lockdown and the ban on fishing and forest activities, several foresters said.

According to a section of foresters as well as those who work for the welfare of those living in Sunderbans, the lockdown and Cyclone Amphan, which has left most fields and fish ponds inundated with saline water, has resulted in a loss of livelihood for many and even inexperienced groups are venturing out in the forests, an official said.

Embankments in the Sunderbans delta — a Unesco World Heritage site — were breached as the surge whipped up by the cyclone inundated several kilometres of the islands. “Most migrant workers are back in their villages and they have no means of livelihood. Several have fallen back to the forest or are catching crabs and fish in order to make ends meet,” said Sagnik Sengupta a member of Stripes and Green Earth (SAGE), an NGO, which had visited the Kultali range where the attack took place a couple of days back to distribute relief materials to the villagers.

According to the officer, they had cast their nets in a reek that flows through the Chituri forest. The men had then left the boat and were chopping firewood inside the forest when a tiger attacked Naiya from behind, the officer added. The tiger got a firm grip of Naiya’s nape in its jaws and was trying to drag him deeper into the forest when two of the three men managed to hit it with axes and sticks.

“They hit the tiger with sticks and after a few minutes the animal let go of Naiya’s neck,” said the official.

Ravi Kant Sinha, the chief wildlife warden of the state, said the men had ventured deep inside the forest when the tiger attacked them.

“The men told our officials that they had gone out to fish and had got off the boat to collect firewood when the tiger attacked,” said Sinha.

According to the latest forest census, the big cat count in the Sunderbans is close to 100.