Tiger kills one in central Tbilisi attack

One man has been killed after he was attacked by a white tiger in central Tbilisi this afternoon. 

A special operation by police launched immediately after the attack was reported; it continued for three hours and resulted in the tiger being killed. 

The victim and at least three others were in a building that was being used as a storage facility when they were attacked about 1.30pm, said a man who worked alongside the victim.

The four men, who work for a private distribution company, were attacked immediately after they entered the company’s store house near Laguna Vere, not far from Tbilisi Zoo, which was severely flooded and partially destroyed on Sunday.

A company worker told Agenda.ge in the exlusive interview that after his four colleagues entered the store house the tiger captured one man and the others ran away from the scene.

"After the flood our store house was very damaged and the company hired extra workers to fix the situation and the man who was attacked was one of them so I did not know him in person, but the rest of the guys, I knew them,” said the company worker who declined to be named.

He also said in the past few days several company employees had entered the building as they normally did.

Just we did not enter it too far as it was full of mud,” said the source.

It is not yet confirmed but it is believed the tiger had been hiding in the building since Sunday.

"We even had insurance officers there to assess the damage yesterday,” said Agenda.ge’s source, adding the tiger did not make any appearance at that time.

"This morning I saw the store house door open and I was about to enter it but then I just changed my mind,” he said.

Meanwhile, police, emergency services and Special Forces were at the site since reports emerged of the animal attack.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed the animal responsible for the attack has been killed.

Police closed roads and evacuated people from the scene. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

"The tiger has been liquidated [killed],” Nino Giorgiobiani, spokesperson for Georgia’s Interior Ministry wrote on her Facebook page about 2.30pm.

For the past four days disaster authorities have searched for escaped zoo animals until yesterday, when the country’s Crisis Management Team leader said all wild animals "had been accounted for".

The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed one man died in the attack. It is believed two others are critically injured.

See the photos taken minutes after the tiger attack in the centre of Tbilisi. Photos by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.