Zookeeper is attacked and killed by a hippo after entering its new enclosure to clean it out in India

A zookeeper was attacked and killed today by a hippo after entering its new enclosure in India.

The 40-year-old employee at Lucknow Zoo in Uttar Pradesh, Suraj, had entered the enclosure to clean it out when he was was set upon. Suraj died on the spot.

Another employee Raju managed to escape from the cage. He was injured and admitted to hospital, but is in a stable condition, the Indian Express reports.

The hippo been transferred to the Lucknow Zoo from Kanpur a few weeks ago.

Zoo director Aditi Sharma said an inquiry is being conducted, adding that all employees are directed to confine the animal to a section of the cage before entering it, the publication reports.

'It would be part of inquiry to find why the animal was not confined in a portion of the cage when the two employees entered,' said Sharma.

Suraj had been working in the zoo for the last 12 years and is survived by his wife, daughter and son.

Angered zoo employees gathered at the civil hospital where the body of the deceased was taken and Raju has been admitted, the Meghalayan reports.

In September, an enraged hippo started charging at its zoo keeper after he tried to break up its fight with another territorial bull in their enclosure.

Heart-stopping footage showed the man - who had entered the enclosure to feed the animal - scrambling out of the pen in a desperate bid to avoid a fatal attack at the Changsha Ecological Zoo in China's Hunan province.

Amid the rush to run for his life, the zoo keeper slipped over on the wet concrete surface entrance with the hippo ready to launch what could have been a devastating assault.

With the furious hippo baring its huge teeth in a threatening display, the man used his arms and feet to prevent the hungry animal from closing in on him.

The hippo momentarily left its keeper alone as it continued to feed on greens but as the man stood back up, it charged at him again just as he was leaving the enclosure. This time, he was able to run to safety.

It's understood the zoo keeper had entered the enclosure to feed the animal before two hippos began attacking each other.

Footage showed the territorial bulls going at each other before the zoo keeper flies out of the pen.

The zoo keeper had tried to break up the fight by distracting one of the hippos - but was sent running when they turned their fury on him.

Astonishingly, the zookeeper escaped unharmed following the horror clash on September 24.