The 'tragic' death of the 10-year-old Chandra reduced the family of tiger in the zoo to one, leaving its female counterpart Purnima, aged eight, alone.

Terming the death an accident, veterinary officer of the zoo Dr Monzur Morshed told The Daily Star that Chandra was quite sound even the day before.

"He showed no symptom of sickness till around 1.00pm when he suffered a strangulation of intestine and died in no time," he said yesterday evening.

Dr Morshed said the urinary bladder of the tiger also burst open because of the strangulation in his intestine.

Dr Masudduzaman, a professor of pathology at Chittagong Veterinary University, conducted the autopsy in the afternoon.

Zoo sources said Chandra was collected in the year 2004 from Dhaka Zoo as part of an exchange programme.

They are trying to bring a new pair of tigers from Dhaka Zoo within a month, the sources added.