White Tiger
White TigerWikiCommons/Tony Hisgett

Watch video of another 'man in tiger enclosure', but this one has a twist.

In a freak accident inside a Delhi zoo, a Class 12 student was mauled to death by a white tiger on Tuesday afternoon. 

The incident occured at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday, when the boy reportedly slipped and fell into the tiger's enclosure, which witnesses claim had a low barricade. 

The fully-grown white tiger attacked the boy immediately and killed him within a matter of minutes.

However, zoo officials claim the boy himself jumped into the tiger's enclosure. 

"The youth himself jumped into the tiger's cage. We are trying to ascertain his identity," R.A. Khan, curator, National Zoological Park, Delhi, told IANS.

Security guards and zoo personnel failed to come to the boy's rescue, while witnesses say that people around were trying to scare away the tiger by throwing stones and sticks. 

According to several eyewitnesses, the boy was alive for ten minutes after he fell into the enclosure, but zoo authorities failed to act to save him. Even when security officials reached the enclosure, they were not armed with tranquilizers, according to eyewitnesses. 

Visuals from news channels show the tiger then mauling the boy and dragging him around the enclosure.