Indian white tiger kills student at Delhi zoo

A white tiger has attacked and killed an Indian student at Delhi zoo, officials and witnesses say.

Zoo manager Riaz Khan said the young man "leapt over the railing into the tiger enclosure". Initial reports described him as a schoolboy.

Television pictures showed the frightened student crouching against a wall while the tiger stood near him.

An eyewitness said he was leaning over the barricade which was "very low" and may have fallen inside the enclosure.

"Around 1.30 pm, we were in the reptiles area when we heard loud screams," eyewitness Himanshu told CNN-IBN news channel.

"I ran to the tiger enclosure where we saw that a white tiger had caught the student by his neck and he was writhing in pain. Some children threw small sticks and stones at the tiger.

"He suffered for the next 10-15 minutes but nobody helped him."

Himanshu said the police "came very quickly", but could not save him.

"We are all in a complete state of shock," Reuters quoted Amitabh Agnihotri, the director of the National Zoological Park which manages the Delhi zoo, as saying.

"The tiger grabbed the youth and killed him. I am not clear whether the youth jumped into the cage or he slipped accidentally," he said.

The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination and police have begun an investigation into the incident.