• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Agartala, April 17, 2022: In a ghastly incident, a 45-years old woman was brutally attacked by a wild bear on Sunday at Laxmicherra area under Tripura’s southern district, which is about 93 KMs away from Agartala city.

Like other days, the woman went to the deep forest to collect wood and vegetables. A local youth heard her hue and cry and went near the woman. The victim was immediately shifted to South Tripura district hospital. The doctors’ on-duty referred her to GB Panth Hospital here in Agartala.

The local youth also recovered a video which displayed the blood-soaked woman screaming unbearable pain. She lost both the eyes and sustained grave injuries on her face and other parts of the body. Police sources revealed that the woman has been identified as Mousanti Reang.

Another woman named Swapna Reang, neighbour of Mousanti said “Like every day, she went to collect vegetables and woods in the forest, but did not return. A local youth rushed to the spot after sensing trouble and found that she was lying in the pool of blood and screaming loudly in pain. The local people found that she was attacked by a wild bear as both of her eyes were taken away by the wild animal. She also sustained severe marks of injury on her face and other parts of the body”.

“Without wasting any time, Mousanti was shifted to South Tripura district hospital at Belonia, but the doctors on-duty referred her to the state’s top referral hospital seeing her critical health condition. She has been medicated with primary treatment and left for Agartala”, Swapna added.

Meanwhile, a team of forest officials also reached the spot of the incident and started investigating the matter.

Sub-Divisional Forest Officer (SDFO) of Belonia, Babul Mog told reporters that “Forest officials team visited the site and prima facie proof suggested that the attack was done by a bear. However, villagers never spotted the animal, but they are of the belief that bears are out there in deep forests for water and food.

He said, presence of wild bears can’t be ruled out as some parts of the area are located in close proximity to the Devtamura reserve.

The local also said that similar attacks were noticed when domestic cows went deep in the forest.