Lucknow, Feb 15 (IANS) A tigress killed a teenage girl and injured two of her friends when they were collecting wood near the Katarniaghat forest reserve in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district, forest officials said Monday.
The tigress attacked 16-year-old Gudiya and two of her friends Sunday while they were collecting wood on the outskirts of Vishunpur village in Bahraich, some 270 km from the state capital here. The animal is still at large.

“The attack by the tigress has created panic in the village. We have advised people not to go outside the village alone and to try to move in groups,” Divisional Forest Officer R.K. Singh told IANS over phone from Bahraich.

“A compensation of Rs.10,000 has been given to the kin of the person who died. Five teams of forest officials have been constituted for carrying out a search operation,” he said.

Those injured in the attack are being treated at a government hospital in Bahraich and all of them are out of danger, the official said.

The Katarniaghat forest reserve is home to about 55 tigers, officials said.