Though the forest department officials have started their search operation, the body of the victim, a local fisherman from Jharkhali area, has not been found yet.

Das, who was with a group of fishermen, allegedly did not have proper legal documents to fish in the area. According to state forest department officials, Das went to the reserve area with four other fishermen during the past couple of days on a boat.

On Friday, when the group was on the bank of the Matla river near Netidhopani in the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve area, Das was mauled and dragged away by a Royal Bengal tiger.

"We have been able to confirm the victim's identity but his body has not yet been discovered," said Subrata Mukherjee, Sunderbans tiger project, field director. Mukherjee said the tiger could not be trapped in Mathurakhand and Sonagaon and is unlikely to be trapped. "But all the four traps in each of the two blocks will continue till January 12," he said.

Attacks by tigers on fishermen in the Sunderbans, the largest Royal Bengal tiger sanctuary in the country, are not unusual.

In June last, a fisherman's son was mauled and attacked by a tiger as he went for fishing in Kultali in South 24-Parganas district. In a similar incident in July, a 38-year-old fisherman was attacked by a tiger in the Sunderbans. Not long ago, 18-year-old fisherman, Narayan Das, was mauled to death at Kultali while 45-year-old Jangal Pramanik was attacked by another tiger when he was out with a fishing team in Surjyamoni canal.

"We got a report today that a local fisherman in Sunderbans Tiger Reserve was mauled and dragged away by a Royal Bengal tiger," said Atanu Raha, the principal wildlife conservator, state forest department. "Forest department officials are carrying out a search mission," he said.