16-yr-old tribal girl killed by tiger in Telangana, second such attack in a month

A 16-year-old tribal girl was killed by a tiger in Telangana's Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district on Sunday. This is the second such incident in the district this month. The girl, identified as Pasula Nirmala was at a cotton field in the Mannewada hamlet near Kondapalli village in Penchikalapeta mandal on Sunday when she was attacked. 

Her two brothers, who had gone to fetch water from a stream nearby, heard her cries for help. The boys shouted for help and threw their sickles at the tiger in an attempt to rescue Nirmala. The tiger dragged the girl’s body 50 meters into the Bejjur forest range and vanished, her half-eaten body was recovered later. The locals had reported spotting a tiger in the locality three days before the attack. 

Forest officials, along with the police, soon rushed to the area. Earlier on November 11, a 20-year-old tribal man, Siddam Vigneshwar, was mauled to death by a tiger in the Girelli forest area of Rebanna Range in Asifabad division. Vigneshwar was attacked some 20 kilometres away from where Nirmala was attacked. An official said they were trying to ascertain if the same tiger was behind both the incidents.

The victim, Vigneshwar, along with two minor boys had gone for fishing in a stream when he was attacked by a tiger. The body was dragged over some distance and was partly eaten. The two boys, who accompanied the victim, rushed to Digada village and raised an alarm.

The forest officials, after studying the pug marks, had said that the big cat might have come to the area from neighbouring Maharashtra.

The department has deployed 35 tiger trackers in seven groups to patrol the forest areas and villages adjoining the forests.