Bhopal, June 6 : In a tragic incident, a woman was killed by a tigress near Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh's Umaria on Friday, officials said.

The tigress attacked the woman in the Manpur buffer area, resulting in her immediate death.

The victim, identified as Galli Bai Yadav, 40, a resident of Rakhi village, had gone to relieve herself near a drain in the village when the tigress, hiding in the bushes, suddenly attacked her from behind.

This is not the first case of human-wildlife conflict in the region. Just four days earlier, a bear attacked a young man who was gathering wood, leaving him severely injured. He is currently receiving treatment at the Shahdol government hospital.

Speaking to IANS, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, L. Krishnamoorthy, termed the Friday incident sad but said that there is no plan to shift the tigress from the area as of now.

"This is the first incidence in the Rakhi village... this place is far away from earlier places. No plan to shift the tigress now."

A Manpur officer said that Rakhi village is located approximately one-and-a-half kilometres from the core zone of the reserve, making it vulnerable to encounters with wild animals. He, however, said the tigress jumped over the woman, causing her death. Since no part of her body was damaged, it is believed that the tigress did not attack with the intention of hunting.

The woman's body was taken to the Community Health Centre in Manpur for a post-mortem examination. Her family was provided with Rs 10,000 as immediate financial assistance, with further compensation to be given according to government regulations.

This incident also raises concerns about sanitation facilities in the district. Authorities claim that toilets have been constructed in every home and that the district is nearly Open Defecation-Free. However, many villagers still resort to open defecation, either due to habit or a lack of usable facilities. The gap between official reports and the reality on the ground has led to dangerous encounters with wildlife. The recent tiger attack is part of a disturbing pattern of fatal wildlife encounters in Umaria over the past two months.

On April 12, a tiger attacked Vijay, 14, in the forest of Dhamokhar area, and her body was later found in a drain. On April 2, Rani Singh, a 25-year-old woman from Kothiya village in Chansura beat of Panpatha core area, was collecting mahua when she was attacked and killed by a tiger. On March 23, a fifty-year-old shepherd grazing cattle in Uttar Paljha beat of the Panpatha buffer zone was attacked by a tigress, resulting in his death.

/IANS