Tiger Drags Away 15-Year-Old Girl Working In Field, Half-Eaten Body Found

A 15-year-old girl in India was mauled to death by a tiger while she was plucking cotton in a field.

The incident took place Sunday in the southern state of Telangana. The girl was attacked when her two brothers, who had accompanied her to the field, had gone to bring water from a nearby stream, the News Minute reported.

The brothers heard the girl's cries and rushed to the spot. When they shouted and pelted stones at the tiger, the animal dragged the girl away and disappeared into a nearby forest.

Locals arrived at the scene, and after searching the area for hours, found the teenager's half-eaten body. The victim was identified as Pasula Nirmala.

Some villagers had spotted a tiger in the area three days before the attack, the News Minute reported, but it was not clear if any action was taken by the forest department.

This was not the first tiger attack in the area in November. A 20-year-old tribal man, Siddam Vigneshwar, was attacked and killed by a tiger in the Girelli forest area of Rebanna Range in Asifabad division on Nov. 11, the New Indian Express reported. Vigneshwar was attacked about 12 miles away from where Nirmala was mauled.

Vigneshwar was with two minor boys when he was attacked. The two boys had raised an alarm in the nearby village.

Forest officials said they were investigating the incidents to determine if the same tiger was responsible for both the deaths. They also added 35 tiger trackers have been deployed and patrolling is taking place in the forest areas and villages adjoining the forests. Earlier, authorities had said the tiger that attacked Vigneshwar likely moved to the nearby state of Maharashtra.

In another recent incident, a leopard attacked and dragged a 5-year-old girl into a forest in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The animal snatched the girl from her grandmother's lap at their farm.

The grandmother alerted the villagers about the incident and the forest department was informed. Officials later recovered the body of the child.