An Indian village has been struck by tragedy as a three-year-old boy was killed after a gang of monkeys pushed a boulder from a roof onto his head.
Locals in India's Telangana state said Devunuri Abhinav was playing below the tin roof when a gang of monkeys who had been jumping around caused the boulder to fall off and onto the child.
Abhinav's Death Comes 6 Months After He Suffered a Near-Death Experience
The three-year-old had only recently suffered a near-death experience, falling on a knife which pierced his throat six months ago, according to reports. His parents, named locally in Katukuri village in Akkanapet as Rajitha and Srikanth, had paid Rs 5 lakh (over $6,000) for their child to undergo lifesaving surgery.
He had almost completely recovered from his ordeal when the primates caused him to be crushed to death, local media reports. The toddler's death has led to growing concern around violent monkeys in the village, with locals saying they had already been plagued by them for some time.Local politician Raj Kumar Chahar also raised the concern during a Parliamentary session about the monkey menace.
He sought clarification on the how much relief is afforded to monkey attack victims by the state. It came after the ministry of environment, forest and climate change revealed it had no record of the number of people injured or killed due to monkey bites in India.
Monkey Menace in India
Monkeys have wreaked havoc in the country in recent years, with the toddler's death the latest in a long line of horrific primate-related fatalities. In March, a 70-year-old woman died in southern India after being attacked by a pack of rampaging monkeys while on her way to the bathroom.
Chataraboina Narsavva was at home in her village in the state of Telangana's Kamareddy district when the the aggressive creatures pounced on her. She succumbed to injuries sustained while trying to to escape the mob of monkeys, according to a local police inspector.
Last year, a five-year-old girl died after being swarmed by ferocious monkeys in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The little girl, who was bleeding after she had been "bitten almost everywhere," was rushed to hospital where she died from her injuries.
In 2021, the mother of eight-day-old twins claimed her babies had been snatched by ferocious monkeys, with one of the little girls killed and the other rescued. In 2020, a mother and four of her children were crushed to death at their home in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, after a wall was brought down by a troop of monkeys.
In 2019, a 50-year-old man died in Sambhal after falling from a terrace at his home when he was attacked by monkeys. Just months earlier, a one-and-a-half-month-old infant was killed by a monkey which apparently jumped into her cot to steal her milk bottle.
Also in the same year a monkey killed a 60-year-old man and injured nine others after going on the rampage through a town in central India.
