Youth escapes with broken ribs in bear attack in Asifabad

Santosh received injuries on his abdomen and besides two broken ribs as the fierce animal attacked him while he and his friend Jambula Bheemesh suddenly came face to face with the bear.

Kumram Bheem Asifabad: A tribal youngster was fortunate to survive an attack by a sloth bear, suffering injuries and broken ribs when the animal attacked him while he was drinking water from a stream in a forest on the outskirts of Kondapalli village in Penchikalpet mandal on Thursday. He managed to flee from the spot.

Penchikalpet Forest Range Officer S Venugopal said that the injured person was Made Santhosh (28), son of Chandraiah and hailing from the Mannewar community in Kondapalli village.

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Santosh received injuries on his abdomen and besides two broken ribs as the fierce animal attacked him while he and his friend Jambula Bheemesh suddenly came face to face with the bear at 11 am. “The bear, with two cubs, suddenly pounced on me while I was drinking water in the stream. I quickly ran away to save my life, and raised an alarm,” he told Telangana Today over the phone.

Santosh and Bheemesh were checking his cotton field located on the forest fringes. “Sudden confrontation with animals often result in such attacks,” the forest official said.

The victim was shifted to a private hospital in Kaghaznagar and was undergoing treatment there. Compensation would be extended to Santosh for treatment and recovery. Officials of the forest department visited the spot and recorded the footprints of the animal. They spoke to locals and inquired about the attack.

On November 29 last, Pasula Nirmala (18), a tribal girl, was mauled to death by a tiger, named A2, while she was engaged in harvesting cotton on the outskirts of Kondapalli. Foresters made unsuccessful efforts to capture the carnivore which developed aberrant behaviour and killed another tribal youngster, Sidam Vignesh (19), on November 19 last.