[FONT="]At least one money-hungry rat broke into an ATM and chewed through nearly $18,000 in cash, authorities in India said.
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[FONT="]Officials at the State Bank of India (SBI) thought the machine was merely malfunctioning when patrons told them it was no longer dispensing money.
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[FONT="]It was "out of order" since May 20 — then technicians opened it.
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[FONT="]Chandan Sharma, manager of the SBI branch in the town of Tinsukia in the northeastern state of Assam, told reporters "they were shocked to find shredded notes and a dead rat."
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[FONT="]Reports estimate the destroyed banknotes at between 1.2 and 1.3 million rupees ($17,662 to $19,000).
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[FONT="]Police superintendent Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta said the rat entered the machine through a hole intended for cables.
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[FONT="]SBI has more than 50,000 ATMs spread across the country, Reuters reports.
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[FONT="]AP contributed to this report.[/FONT]
