DHAKA: A tiger snatched an Indian woman and dragged her into the forest from in front of her husband.

The incident took place on Friday when the couple and a boat driver were trying to catch crabs in a shallow river in the state of West Bengal, the Daily Mail published the report on Saturday.

The animal dragged the woman into the thick mangrove undergrowth of the Pirkhali Forest, an area known for tiger attacks, and her husband looked on helplessly, the report added.

Local media said that after the husband reported the attack, forest guards searched for the woman, but couldn't find any trace of her.

The attack happened in the Sundarbans, India's vast and tangled mangrove forest where the Ganges River empties into the Bay of Bengal.

It was the sixth tiger attack this year in the Sundarbans, where environmentalists say shrinking habitat is forcing tigers to venture farther in search of food.

In June, a Bengal tiger dragged a man off a fishing boat in India and into a mangrove swamp as his children looked on in horror.

The family was also understood to be crab fishing in a stream in the Sundarbans National Park when the animal jumped aboard the boat and attacked the man.

India is home to more than half of the 3,200 tigers believed to be left in the wild in the world.

Their numbers are also dwindling fast because of deaths at the hands of poachers, who target the creatures for their skin, bones, teeth and claws.

BDST: 1452 HRS, AUG 10, 2014