Tiger kills tribal girl in Asifabad

Hyderabad: In a tragic incident, a 15-year-old tribal girl was killed by a tiger in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district on Sunday. According to officials of forest department, the girl, Pasula Nirmala, an agricultural labourer from Kondapalli, was killed by the tiger while she was harvesting cotton in a field along with her two brothers, which is located in the thick Penchikalpet forest range of Kagaznagar forest division.

R Shobha, Chief Wild Life Warden said that when the brothers went to fetch water from a nearby canal, they heard a noise and by the time they reached, Nirmala was being dragged by the tiger as the animal had caught hold of her neck and took her into the forest for a distance of 30 meters. However, the tiger left her as the brothers shooed it away by making loud noises.

She noted, "No body parts of the girl were eaten and only canine marks were visible on the neck. She died immediately out of fear and a post-mortem is ordered for now. Apart from it, there are no pug marks on the field as the land was dry and full of leaf fall in forest. When the incident occurred, there were around 10 more people who were picking the cotton, but the girl was in one corner towards thick vegetation."

"However, we have setup 20 cameras around the incident site and the searches will continue further. This is not the first time that the tiger has killed as a similar incident was reported on November 11. In order to nab the tiger, a large team comprising of experts will be formed and the situation will be monitored regularly," stated the official.