Nizamabad:Forest officials launched search operations after a tiger was reportedly sighted in the Inayatnagar forest area of Kammarpally mandal in Nizamabad district.

The sighting occurred during a combing operation conducted by the forest department in the Konapur section under the Kammarpally forest range to trace the movement of the animal. Officials maintained secrecy about the development on Friday.

According to forest sources, the tiger was spotted by a woman forest officer during the search operation. While walking through the forest looking for signs of the animal, the officer stopped to rest after feeling tired. She then noticed a tiger moving about 20–30 metres away from her.

The officer was initially shocked and unable to speak for some time. When other officials reached the spot, she informed them about the sighting.

Based on the observations, officials believe the tiger is moving through dense forest areas near the backwaters of the Gattu Podichina Vagu Project reservoir and the Rallavagu reservoir in forest compartments numbered 14 and 24/1.

Forest officials had installed trap cameras in the area on Wednesday to track the animal, but the tiger was not captured in the footage.

The team later informed Divisional Forest Officer Vikas Meena about the sighting. A drone camera was brought from Khanapur in Nirmal district and aerial search operations were conducted.

Officials said the drone scanned a radius of about two kilometres in the forest area, but the tiger could not be located.