Two fishermen were reportedly killed and another one managed to save himself after a tiger attacked them while they were fishing crab at Simkhali canal in the Indian side of Sundarbans near Satkhira on Thursday afternoon.

The deceased men – Ratan, 42, and Mizanur, 40—were dragged away by the tiger while the third man –Abu Musa, 41 -- managed to save himself by running away into the jungle. 

All of them hailed from Pashim Koikhali village in Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira.

Later, survivor Abu Musa reportedly made phone calls to his family and the families of Ratan and Mizanur to inform about the incident on Thursday evening, said Musa's nephew Al Amin.

However, Al Amin said Musa did not return home yet and still remain missing. 

After families of Ratan and Mizanur got the news of the tiger’s attack from Musa, they set out at night in boats and trawlers to search them in the forest, he added.

According to another source, Indian Border Security Force (BSF) reportedly recovered the bodies of Ratan and Mizanur from a canal and also detained Musa.

However, it is not clear at his point whether the duo was killed in tiger attack or shot dead by BSF members while smuggling cattle from India. 

Abu Sayed, in-charge of Sundarbans Koikhali forest station, said: "I have heard that they went to the Indian side of Sundarbans and were illegally fishing crabs when the tiger attack incident occurred." 

Lt Cornel Yasin Chowdhury, captain of 17th Battalion of BGB in Satkhira's Nildumur, said he also heard about the incident and making inquiries accordingly. "If true, measures will be taken to bring back the bodies," he said.

BDST: 1310 HRS, JAN 22, 2021
AP