Five Indonesian men remained trapped up a tree in a national park on Sumatra island after angry tigers chased the group after mauling another man to death.
Four of the snarling animals were still surrounding the base of tree after they attacked men on Thursday.
The men reportedly killed a tiger cub by accident while searching for rare incense wood in the Gunung Leuser National Park, angering the tigers.
One man died after being mauled by the tigers, while the others managed to escape by climbing a tree where they were seeking refuge for over three days, AFP reports.
A 30-member search team set out on Saturday to rescue the men after villagers who had tried to help them retreated at the sight of the tigers, the smallest of their species, circling the base of the tree.
“It might need two to three days to walk on foot to the depths of the jungle,” police chief Dicky Sondani said, adding that they may have to shoot or sedate the tigers to rescue the five men.
People keep entering the dense jungle in search of the wood, a rare and extremely expensive type of heartwood, reports Jakarta Globe.
“The wood is very expensive… but they run a risk looking for it as they have to go to more remote parts of Leuser where there are many tigers and elephants,” Sondani told AFP.
