Gosaba: A 40-year-old man was killed by a Royal Bengal tiger this morning while he was catching crabs in a canal at Buridabri forest in the Sundarbans in South 24 Parganas district.

Forest department sources said the tiger sprang on the man and dragged him away.

The man's elder brother and three others, who were armed and catching crabs with him at Bhulia village in Kumirmari, gave the tiger a chase.

Picture used for representational purpose

The feline then dropped the man and ran away into the forest, but he died by the time his body was found.

The body was later taken away by the forest department, the sources said.

This is the third time this month that tigers have preyed on men in the Sundarbans. In November, four such incidents were reported, the sources added.