Shyamapada Shil did not realise a tiger’s teeth had pierced him for a few seconds — until he was flung off the boat into the mud.

The 42-year-old fisherman was attacked by a Bengal tiger on Sunday afternoon while catching crabs with two companions in a creek in the Sundarbans.

The tiger pounced on him, biting him on the waist, throwing him into the mud and attempting to drag him towards the forest. One of his companions, Jagadish Gharani, jumped into the mud and struck the tiger with a stick, forcing it to retreat.

Severely injured, Shil was rescued by the two men and later brought to Medical College Hospital, Kolkata, where he is undergoing treatment.

A resident of Kalidaspur village in Chotomollakhali, under the Gosaba subdivision of South 24-Parganas, Shil had gone fishing with two others on December 16. On December 21, around 2.30pm, they entered a creek in the Bagna forest of the Basirhat range under the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR).

“The boat was moving slowly as we were pulling out the baits we had set for crabs. Suddenly, I felt something falling on me, and the next moment I was in the mud. I didn’t realise it was a tiger until a few seconds later, when it started dragging me towards the forest,” Shil told Metro on Wednesday.

“The creek was zigzag, so we couldn’t see the tiger. As the boat negotiated a sharp bend, it attacked me,” he said.

“I didn’t feel any pain initially. Before I could even think, I saw Jagadish shouting and hitting the tiger with a stick. Then I saw it running into the forest,” Shil said.

Doctors said it was common for victims of severe trauma not to feel pain immediately.

“Because of the surge of adrenaline, the perception of pain decreases. For some time after such a trauma, a person may not feel pain,” explained Chandramouli Bhattacharya, a tropical medicine expert.

Gharani, who saved Shil, said the tiger may have followed them from the main river into the narrow creek.

“We spent more than half an hour going upstream laying the crab baits and then waited for about 10 minutes. After that, we started returning, pulling up the baits with crabs stuck to them,” Gharani said.

Even after being driven away, the tiger ran along the bank beside their boat, he said.

“I was pulling up the baits while my brother Kamalesh was rowing. But as the tiger kept moving with the boat and roaring, we got scared. We abandoned the baits and both of us started rowing,” Gharani said. Once they reached the main river, the tiger stopped chasing them.

They alerted their village, and a speedboat was sent to rescue them.

Hospital sources said Shil’s condition was stable.

Compensation

Local residents alleged that the state forest department was not paying compensation despite a Calcutta High Court order.

“This year, 28 people were attacked by tigers and crocodiles. Of them, nine died in tiger attacks and two were killed by crocodiles,” said Mithun Mondal, assistant secretary of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, South 24-Parganas district committee.

“In most cases, families do not receive any help from the state forest department,” Mondal said.

He also alleged that the department had stopped issuing new boat licence certificates (BLCs), forcing many fishermen to illegally enter core forest areas.

The STR comprises the Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary, the Basirhat range and National Park East and West. An STR official said the incident occurred inside the Chamta forest compartment in National Park East on December 21.

“It is part of the core area, where entry is prohibited irrespective of whether a fisherman has a valid BLC or not,” the official said.

“The fishermen who were with him did not inform the department after the attack. We learnt about the incident later through enquiries conducted via joint forest management committees in adjoining areas,” the official added.