KAKINADA: In a tragic incident, a six-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Kakinada on Saturday. As the boy came out of the house, the dogs gathered at the garbage bin pounced on him. The boy died on the spot even as locals tried to save him.
Kakinada III Town police said the boy, Vasamsetti Nagendra, was the son of auto driver Srinivas. The family of the auto driver recently shifted to Balaji Cheruvu locality from Indrapalem of Kakinada rural area.
The garbage bin is placed right in front of Hotel Cosmo, close to which is the house of the auto driver. Stray dogs gather around the bin to forage for food dumped by the hotel, locals said. On Saturday afternoon, Nagendra came out of the house carrying a small stick in his hand when the stray dogs attacked him. As the boy raised an alarm, locals rushed to the spot and tried to scare away the dogs but in vain.
Nagendra suffered injuries on his neck, head and lower part of the body. Nagendra collapsed and, by the time he was taken to hospital by his parents, he was dead. The body was shifted to Kakinada Government General Hospital for post-mortem examination. Locals blamed municipal corporation officials for not taking action to prevent stray dog menace. As per official figures there are 71,277 dogs in the district.