GUA MUSANG: A young man survived with only scratches after he crashed his motorcycle into an adversary as rare as this wild tale is bizarre in an ambush by an endangered tiger along Jalan Gua Musang-Jeli here on Monday (Nov 13) night.
Deadly encounters of humans with a man-eater after a spate of recent attacks here took on a new twist on Monday as orchard planter Muhammad Zulhilmi Mokhtar, 26, recalled the hair-raising ambush at about 9.30pm on a dark forested road when the tiger suddenly lunged from out of the bushes on the right side of the road and crashed into the front tyre of his motorcycle.
“The incident happened as I was riding my motorcycle on my way to Sungai Terah to play badminton through a dark, hilly road with no street lights.
“I had only a glimpse of the tiger before the incident flashed by in the blink of an eye.
“After falling off the motorbike, I got up and ran helter-skelter for 100 metres to find help from other road users by turning on the mobile phone light,” Zulhilmi said as he related his astonishing tiger tale to reporters at his home in Kampung Lembaga here on Tuesday (Nov 14).
He said the crash left him injured on his right eyebrow and his left leg.
According to Muhammad Zulhilmi, he was rescued by a driver who was passing by to the Gua Musang Hospital for treatment.
“I am not sure if the tiger was attacking me or was just simply crossing the road because the location is in a forested area,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kelantan Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) director Mohamad Hafid Rohani said his office had received information about the incident.
“We have been to the scene of the incident and are still investigating the crash that happened.
“The traces of fur on the victim’s motorcycle have been sent to the laboratory, which will confirm if the animal involved was indeed a tiger as claimed,” he said. – Bernama