India monkey attack: Eight-day-old twins snatched as one is killed, mum claims

Eight-day-old twin girls ‘are snatched by pack of monkeys in India who kill one of the children before other is rescued’, mother claims

  • Mother claims eight-day-old twins were taken by monkeys in Thanjavur, India 
  • R. Buvaneswari, 26, says primates broke into her house and carried girls away 
  • One girl was found alive on the roof, with another found dead in a nearby moat 

Monkeys snatched a pair of eight-day-old twins from their home in southern India before killing one of the girls, their mother has claimed.

The woman, named only as 26-year-old R. Buvaneswari, claims the attack took place in the city of Thanjavur on Saturday while she was home alone with the children.

Buvaneswari told local media that the monkeys broke in through the roof, took the girls, and that she later found one of the twins dead in a moat behind her house.

But police have urged caution, saying an investigation is underway and that the girls did not have injuries consistent with monkey attacks.

R. Buvaneswari, 26, the mother of eight-day-old twin girls, claims that monkeys killed one of the infants after breaking into her home on Saturday (pictured with the surviving girl)

R. Buvaneswari, 26, the mother of eight-day-old twin girls, claims that monkeys killed one of the infants after breaking into her home on Saturday (pictured with the surviving girl)

‘We cannot come to any conclusion,’ forest ranger G Jothikumar told the Times of India.

Buvaneswari claims the attack took place on Saturday while her husband, Raja, was out at work and she was at home with the newborn twins alongside the couple’s other child – a five-year-old girl.

The mother says she was going to the bathroom when she heard a commotion from inside the house, and rushed back to find the girls missing.

She claims the monkeys had lifted roof tiles to get into the house, then taken the girls out on to the roof.

Buvaneswari said a monkey was sitting on the roof holding one of the girls, and that neighbours managed to chase the animal away.

Police were called and officers later found the second girl floating in a moat located behind the house.

She was pronounced dead at the scene, and her body taken for an autopsy while the survivng girl was taken for treatement.

The alleged attack took place in the city of Thanjavur, though police have urged caution - saying it is too early to tell what happened and that an investigation is ongoing

The alleged attack took place in the city of Thanjavur, though police have urged caution – saying it is too early to tell what happened and that an investigation is ongoing

Park rangers described the incident as ‘the rarest of the rare’ and added that it is very difficult for monkeys to remove roof tiles in order to break into a home.

Jothikumar added that babies snatched by monkeys often suffer dislocated limbs because of the force used, or bruising on their arms and legs.

‘There is no bruise or scratch or dislocation of joints,’ he added, but said it is too early to come to any firm conclusions about what happened.

Fatal monkey attacks in India are rare but not unheard-of. 

In November 2019, two attacks claimed the lives of a 12-day-old baby and a 58-year-old woman in the city of Agra.  

During the first attack, monkeys broke into a woman’s home while she was breastfeeding her child snatched the baby from her, and bit it to death.

In the second attack, a 58-year-old woman was bitten by monkeys as she went to relieve herself outside her home on the outskirts of the city and bled to death.

Monkeys have also inadvertently caused deaths – in January last year a woman hanging washing on her roof died after monkeys attacked and she slipped and fell.

In October, a pack of monkeys that began fighting in the city of Agra caused a frail wall to collapse, killing two men who were standing nearby.  

source: dailymail.co.uk