The remains of a teen who had been missing for two days have been discovered in the lion enclosure of a Pakistani zoo, local officials said.
Staff at Lahore Safari Park discovered Muhammad Bilal, 18, when they went to feed the animals Wednesday, Chaudhry Shafqat, the park’s deputy director general, confirmed.
Employees found the doomed teen’s skull, some bones and pieces of torn cloth that relatives recognized as Bilal’s clothing during a morning search, the BBC reported.
Only the evening before, nearby villagers visited the park asking for help during their desperate search for the teen, according to Shafqat.
“We told them it was too late and could be dangerous to launch a search in the dark,” the director told the BBC.
Bilal’s family and neighbors — angered at what they called incompetence by park authorities — attacked offices there, as well as smashed windows and cars, according to police official Najeeb Awan.
But Shafqat told Reuters the park’s safety measures were “more than enough,” questioning whether Bilal had been killed before he ended up in the enclosure.
“We are still wondering how he crossed the protective fence, which is quite high, and entered the lions’ field,” the official said.
“I think the police will also investigate whether the man himself climbed the fence and went inside or someone threw his dead body inside for the lions to eat.”
Bilal’s family told authorities that the teen had gone to the park to see an uncle who worked there, according to Shafqat.
Authorities are investigating the incident, according to Awan. The teen’s cause of death has yet to be determined.
With Post wires



