- The bear had to be put down so rescue teams could retrieve the teen’s body
A teenager in Romania has been killed in a bear attack after the enraged animal dragged her away and dropped her 330ft down a cliff while she was on a hike with her boyfriend.
The unnamed 19-year-old woman was hiking in the Bucegi mountains in central Romania, near the city of Brasov, on Tuesday when she was savaged by the animal in front her horrified partner.
According to the victim’s boyfriend, the bear first grabbed the teen’s leg and hauled her off the path before throwing her 330ft down a cliff, where her body was later found and recovered by emergency services.
When rescuers went to retrieve the body, they found the snarling beast circling the body. Officials said the ‘aggressive’ predator was then shot.
The victim’s boyfriend, whose identity is also not known, witnessed the horrific attack but was unharmed.
Pictured: A bear in the mountains of Romania. On Tuesday, a 19-year-old woman in Romania was attacked and killed by a bear
The attack happened in the Bucegi mountains in central Romania, near the city of Brasov, on Tuesday
Pictured: Dragon’s Ridge in the Bucegi Mountains, where Tuesday’s bear attack happened
Speaking to CNN’s Antena 3, president of Salvamont Romania, the country’s mountain rescue services, Sabin Corniou said: ‘From the information we have, the bear attacked the young woman on the trail, dragged her into the vegetation next to the trail, and somewhere in this vegetation dropped her into a chasm and fell there. The bear came down after her.’
‘My colleagues went down into the abyss, where unfortunately, the injuries the victim had were incompatible with life,’ he added.
Speaking to another outlet, EuropaFM, Cornoiu said: ‘This is a situation we have not encountered before. […] We have had situations where animals came, threatened, demanded food, and made their presence felt to receive something.
‘But here, it seems we are already talking about a direct attack, and this is not typical of bears. It needs to be seen exactly what influenced it. Maybe the heat, maybe some disease the animal is suffering from.
‘We need to see exactly what changed its behavior so radically that we end up with such events’.
According to government figures, there are around 8,000 brown bears in the Romanian Carpathians. It is the second largest bear population in Europe after Russia.
The World Animal Foundation said that between 2016 and 2021, Romania had experienced 14 fatalities and 158 injuries from bear attacks.
The most recent bear attack in Romainia comes after a British woman was mauled by a bear while visiting the country. Her injuries were not life threatening
The Scottish tourist, 72, was driving through on a mountain road in Romania when she came across two bears
After deciding she wanted to take a selfie with the bear, she rolled down her car window but one of the predators had jumped onto its hind legs
The attack comes just months after an elderly British tourist was mauled by a ferocious bear after she lowered her car window to take a selfie with in while visiting Romania.
The 72-year-old Scottish woman was driving on the Transfăgărășan mountain road in Argeş County, on April 22, when she came across two bears.
As she stopped the car to snap a photo with the impressive predators, one of the bears leaped onto its hind legs directly outside her vehicle.
The tourist bravely rolled down her window to get a better view of the beast, preparing her phone for the photo.
But in a grisly twist of events, the bear pounced forward and mauled her right arm.
Her travel companion quickly stepped on the gas as the pair fled the horror scene, making a desperate attempt to escape further attack.
The woman was dashed to a nearby hospital following the brutal attack in the Carpathian Mountains.
Her injuries were not life-threatening, however.
Romania’s Environment Minister Mircea Fechet has been calling for higher quotas for bears to be shot to prevent brutal attacks.