A biker died on camera after being chased and attacked by a rhino near the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam

New Delhi:

A biker died after he was chased and attacked by a rhino near Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon district of Assam on Sunday. The victim, Saddam Hussain, was a resident of Kamrup district, about 30 kilometers from the site of the incident.

The 37-year-old was riding his two-wheeler when the rhino standing on the side of the road approached him. He then quickly gets off the bike and runs into the wooded area while the animal, which can run up to 55 kilometers per hour, chases him.

In a video that has since gone viral, locals can be seen screaming to scare away the rhino, which weighs up to 2,800 kilograms.

Hussain was later found in a field with his head smashed.

“The rhino came from the wildlife sanctuary. We are investigating the incident,” a forest official told news agency ANI.

Located in a suburb of Assam’s capital Guwahati, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary is known to house the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the country.

Data released on World Rhino Day this month says the population of Asian rhinos in India has almost tripled over the past four decades.

The number of animals has increased from 1,500 four decades ago to over 4,000 today.

An adult Indian rhinoceros, the largest of the three Asian species, can live around 50 years.

An estimated 80 percent of the world’s one-horned rhinos live in the Kaziranga Conservation Park in Assam.