Hyderabad, July 17 : In another horrific incident, an 18-month-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Hyderabad, police said on Wednesday.

The incident occurred in the Jawahar Nagar area on Tuesday night when the boy was playing outside his home. A stray dog pounced on the toddler and dragged him away. Other stray dogs also attacked the hapless child, causing him severe injuries.

Hearing the boy's cries, his parents Bharat and Lakshmi rushed out and chased away the stray dogs. The badly injured Vihaan was shifted to a hospital but he had already succumbed.

On a complaint by the victim's family, Jawahar Nagar police registered a case.

The family had migrated to the city from Siddipet. The area in the northeast part of Hyderabad is home to many migrant families and is also the site for a landfill of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has expressed grief over the incident. He instructed officials to take immediate action against the menace of stray dogs. He asked them to establish a call centre or a toll-free number to receive complaints.

The latest incident has once again brought into focus the growing menace of stray dogs. The city and other towns and villages in the state report dozens of dog bite cases every day. Similar incidents in the past had led to some temporary measures by the municipal authorities but the menace continued.

In May, a five-month-old baby boy was mauled to death by a dog in Telangana's Vikarabad district. The dog entered a house and pounced on the child sleeping unattended. The child's parents had left for work at a nearby stone unit, leaving the child alone.

In April, stray dogs mauled a two-and-a-half-year-old girl to death while she was playing with her sister outside a construction site in the Gayatri Nagar area in Hyderabad. In December 2023, a five-month-old boy died when stray dogs attacked him in a hut when he was sleeping unattended. The incident had occurred in the Shaikpet area of Hyderabad. In February 2023, a four-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs in Hyderabad. After this incident, municipal authorities had announced new measures to check the menace of stray dogs but citizens say the measures have not resulted in any change on the ground.

/IANS