DEHRADUN, India, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A person was killed by a tiger in Uttarakhand, India, raising the number of tiger deaths in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to nine in six weeks, officials said.
The latest victim was killed by a tiger Sunday inside Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand by a male officials suspect may have killed a woman in the area Jan. 14, the Times of India reported Monday.
At least nine people have been killed by tigers in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the past 1 1/2 months. Authorities attribute seven or eight of the deaths to a female tiger.
Corbett National Park's field director Samir Sinha said the attack occurred near a road. Officials said the victim, Ram Charan, 45, was traveling with another person, apparently stopped along the road and went into the forest for an unknown reason, the Times said.
"People rushed to his rescue on hearing his screams. But he was dead by the time they reached him," Sinha said.
Bivash Pandav, a biologist with the Wildlife Institute of India, told the Times it was unlikely, but not impossible, the tiger in Sunday's attack was the same as the tiger in a deadly attack Thursday about 10 miles away.
"We are not rushing to any conclusion," Sinha said. "Our priority would be to establish the identity of the tiger. We are placing camera traps in the area to get pictures," among other things.
