KOLKATA: A tiger snatched a woman off her boat in the Sunderbans on Friday as her husband looked on helplessly.

The deceased has been identified as Bhagawati Mondal (42), a resident of Dayapur. Bhagawati, along with her husband Sunil Mondal and neighbour Parimal Mridha , had ventured into the forests of Dhulo Bauli under Pirkhali VI compartment to catch crabs.

Sources said they had left home a day before and decided to stay back for another day hoping for a greater catch and moved almost a couple of kilometres deeper, into the river.

"Suddenly, we heard a noise and thought that we were struck by lightning. The boat was also about to overturn. But we were horrified to find the big cat on the middle of the boat. It held Bhagawati by its mouth, made a giant leap and disappeared into the mangroves. We had nothing to do," said Parimal.

She was picked up right from the boat of crab-catchers at the heart of the big-cats' habitat in the Sundarbans. As the woman was being taken away by the tiger, her husband watched helplessly. The tiger jumped on the boat with a blood-curdling roar. It landed on the middle of the narrow boat with its four paws closed on the pond. Ina split seconds, the tiger held the woman with his mouth and flung her on its back and jumped back to the Dhulo Baulir forest in Pirkhali block VI.

Bhagawati Mondal, 42, clad in white sari with red border, accompanied her husband Sunil Mondal and neighbour Parimal Mirdha. They all left their Dayapur home a day before. But this time the catch was very less, so they decided to stay back to have a greater catch. They also moved 1.5 kilometer farther, into the river.

Sunil helplessly saw his wife being taken away by the tiger. "We could see the red bordered sari fast disappearing into the forest. We then rowed back to our village at Dayapur in Satjelia in three hours. We were terrified and Sunil was completely bereaved. We thought of moving forward. But we had nothing else than a stick with us.

Pabitra Mondal, a NGO worker, said that they demanded compensation from the forest department. The compensation is granted by forest department in other district. Why would people living in Sundarbans be deprived from the benefit?

