Perak police chief Azizi Mat Aris said the 54-year-old victim was mauled by the tiger when going to the outdoor toilet at the workers’ quarters of a construction site at Bagan Balak, Bernama reported.

He added that the incident was witnessed by the victim’s wife, who is a Thai national and works as a cook. The victim worked as a heavy machinery operator.

According to Azizi, the Gerik district control centre received information about the incident at about 8.25am today.

“The attack was believed to have happened between 5am and 6am when the victim was going to the toilet, and the complainant (wife), terrified on hearing a tiger roaring, opened the door of the house only to see the tiger dragging her husband into the nearby bush,” he said in a statement today.

Azizi added that at about 10.30am, a team from the Gerik district police headquarters (IPD) and 10 members of the wildlife protection and national parks department (Perhilitan) went to the site of the incident to investigate as well as conduct a search and rescue (SAR) operation.

“At about noon, the victim was found dead, approximately 100m from the workers’ quarters, with severe injuries to the left leg and neck.

“The case has been classified as sudden death. At 1.30pm today, the victim’s body was sent to Gerik Hospital for a post-mortem,” he said.

Meanwhile, Perak Perhilitan director Yusoff Shariff said a team has been assigned to maintain a stakeout and monitor the situation at the scene.

He added that they would also set up a special trap to catch the tiger, tomorrow.

According to Yusoff, so far, Perhilitan has yet to receive any other report about a roaming tiger at the location.