In a hair-raising incident, witnessed by scores and captured live on many cameras, a 200kg white tiger mauled and killed a youth after he fell into the animal's moat in the Delhi zoo, eyewitnesses and officials said on Tuesday.
The incident, which took place between 12.30pm and 1pm, created a sensation and word soon spread through the city, with photos and video of the tiger — one of the zoo's star attractions — dragging the youth going viral.
Eyewitnesses and zoo officials said the young man, who was later identified as Maksood, 20, a resident of Anand Parbat in Delhi, had "crossed the stand-off barrier" of the white tiger's enclosure and then fell or jumped into the moat which separated the enclosure from the visitors' gallery.
The majestic six-foot, seven-year-old tiger, named Vijay, which was some distance away, saw the man in the concrete moat, that was covered with dry leaves, and bounded up to him.
