Five Indonesian hunters rescued after 5 days trapped in tree by Sumatran tigers

Last week Thursday, Six men, all from Simpang Kiri village in Aceh Tamiang district, had ventured into the national park in search of rare incense wood.

The group set up deer traps for food, but accidentally caught a tiger cub.

The injured animal drew nearby tigers who then pounced on the men and killed a 28-year-old only identified as David,  while the others managed to flee up some branches.

The smallest of all tigers, Sumatran tigers are a critically endangered species only found on the Indonesian island.

The tigers, numbering up to 10,  trapped the five Indonesian men up the tree in a national park on Sumatra island, after mauling a sixth person to death.

The survivors alerted nearby villagers using mobile phones reported the BBC.

It took rescue crews up to three days before they found the men in the Gunung Leuser jungle, officials said.

The national park covers nearly 7,930 sq km (3,060 sq miles) along the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces.

They are trapped up a tree in Gunung Leuser National Park, north Sumatra, Indonesia

A 30-member search team entered the jungle on Saturday, police chief Dicky Sondani said.

During the long days and nights they had been trapped there, the tigers, which had already killed and eaten a sixth member of their group, prowled around the base of the tree waiting for a chance to grab one or more of the men.

While tigers can climb trees, it is believed the terrified men, from a village in Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, had lodged themselves onto slender branches that would not have borne the wait of a tiger.
But as the hours and the days went by they became weak from hunger and lack of sleep, each of them fearing they would fall and become another victim of the tigers.

The five were dehydrated, hungry and terrified following their ordeal.

The men, from Simpang Kiri village in Aceh, northern Sumatra, had gone into the dense forest in search of agar wood, which is very rare, expensive and used in the production of incense and aromatic oils.

Just 1lb of agar wood can fetch up to £175, resulting in villagers risking their lives to enter the jungles of the Gunung Leuser National Park where tigers and dangerous elephants roam.

Just 1lb of agar wood can fetch up to £175, resulting in villagers risking their lives to enter the jungles of the Gunung Leuser National Park where tigers and dangerous elephants roam (stock image)

When contacted,  Police Chief Dicky Sondani explained why officers had been powerless to intervene.

'We can't go rushing in to rescue the men in the tree because of the remoteness and because of the tigers still being there at the base of the tree,' he said.

He told the Jakarta Globe that villagers enter the jungle to look for the pricey wood but they were risking their lives doing so.

Resident of Simpang Kiri village learned of the men's fate because not only were they carrying mobile phones, they had also managed to get a signal, enabling them to call for help reported DAILY MAIL.

But as rescuers from the village neared the tree they saw David's partially eaten remains and four large tigers - and fled.

But police said they had little choice but to plan the rescue carefully and that would take some time. The tigers would have to be shot with anaesthetising darts due to their endangered numbers.

Conservationists said they had no doubt that the tigers chased the men seeking revenge for killing the cub.

More than 100 Sumatran tigers are believed to roam the forests of the Gunung Leuser National Park.

But there are fears their numbers will dramatically drop as the rainforest shrinks and palm oil plantations take their place. Looking for food, tigers are more frequently entering villages and there have been a number of attacks on humans.

After five days on the tree, and exactly 2 days after the failed rescue attempt by the villagers, the police contacted local tamers who succeed in rescuing the men from the tigers. "The rescue team stood back while the tamers approached the animals and chanted some mantras," district police chief Dicky Sondani told AFP.

 The local tames,  uttering a special chant succeeded in calming the group of snarling tigers that had chased the five men up the tree, leaving them trapped there for nearly five days.

As the tamers uttered thier mantra - a mind-calming chant that originates in ancient India - the tigers turned tail and slipped back into the Indonesian jungle, allowing the desperate men to come down from their precarious perch in the branches.

By the time the rescuers arrived, the men "were very scared. They were also dehydrated and felt faint from not eating".

They survived by drinking rainwater, reported the Telegraph

The men were rescued on Sunday.