A camper was savagely attacked before being eaten alive by a bear at a national park in Russia.
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A sudden bear attack
The victim, Yevgeny Starkov, was with three other friends packing away their tents when the wild bear pounced at them.
As the bear made its move, three of the campers were able to evade the bear but 42-year-old Starkov was not able to escape quickly enough. Though the three other friends were able to avoid the bear, they unfortunately watched in horror as their friend was decapitated by the famished mammal. One of the campers, 42-year-old Anton Shelkunov explained:
We had begun to pack our backpacks. There were two tents, and I turned my head to the left to see a bear sticking out its head, a giant one, with saliva dripping from its mouth. The bear roared and ran at us. I looked back, the bear was chasing us.
And added:
We climbed up, around 50 metres (165ft) and saw the place where our tents were picked. We saw the body (of Starkov) and the bear standing there. It was tearing his body, gnawing it. Then it got distracted, began to look at us, so we climbed higher
A remote part of the park
The gruesome events took place in a remote part of the park. As a result, investigators have not been able to reach the scene by helicopter due to bad weather in the Yergaki Nature Park. What remains of his body has yet to be found. Wildlife supervisor Sergey Gushchin said:
Their hike was in hard-to-reach places in the area of the Nine Lakes of the Aradansky ridge. Heavy rain meant rescuers and investigators could not reach the scene.The bear may have been attracted by the campers' food.
