Forest Department personnel and workers of a tea estate near Valparai are searching for a four-year-old girl, who was mauled and dragged into a tea estate by a leopard on Friday.
The missing girl has been identified as Roshini, daughter of a migrant worker from Jharkhand. Her parents are working in a tea estate at Pachamalai near Valparai.
The leopard attack took place on Friday evening, when the girl was playing near the line houses for tea estate workers.
The carnivore is said to have approached the girl from the bushes and mauled her. The animal dragged the girl into the bushes within seconds, Forest Department sources said, quoting tea estate workers.
The workers immediately alerted the Forest Department, following which the staff attached to the Valparai range rushed to the spot.
Though they carried out extensive searches in the estate, they could not trace the girl. The staff also expanded their search to forest patches located within the estate.
An official said a person had claimed to have seen a leopard dragging the child into the bushes, adding that the search for the girl continued.