7 tourists hurt, 2 critical, after rhino attack in North Bengal

Kolkata: Seven tourists were injured at the Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district in North Bengal on Saturday after two rhinoceroses charged at the safari jeep they were in.

Following the attack, the driver of the jeep tried to escape from the scene but the vehicle skidded and fell into a tunnel adjacent to the road passing through the jungle.

According to eyewitnesses, the two rhinoceroses got involved in a fight in the bushes adjacent to the road when the safari jeep reached the spot and stopped there. As a few tourists were clicking photographs and shooting videos of the fighting animals, the attention of the latter got shifted towards the jeep.

All the injured tourists were immediately shifted to the local Madarihat health centre. The condition of two of them is reportedly serious and they have been shifted to the Alipurduar district hospital.

A forest department official said that rhinos charging towards tourist vehicles has never been reported before in the Jaldapara national park.

The driver of the jeep, Kamal Gazi, who suffered minor injuries, said that he has been in this profession for a long time, but he has never come across such a situation.

“Fortunately, no one has been killed. Things could have been worse,” Gazi said.

(IANS)