Tragedy struck as a teen died after being attacked by a bear while on a hike with her boyfriend.
According to the NY Post, Maria Diana was hiking in Romania's Bucegi Mountains with her boyfriend when a bear appeared on the hiking trail. The teen was on the phone with emergency services before the bear grabbed her leg, and pulled her toward off 400-foot cliff.
The victim's wounds were reported as "incompatible with life" by rescuers on-site. Upon their arrival, the rescuers also encountered the bear, who was circling the victim's body. The animal attempted to attack to the rescue crew upon their approach to the scene. Luckily, the beast was quickly shot and killed.
Teen Killed By Bear While Hiking in Romania
Dan Banu, head of the local mountain rescue service, reported that the victim was terrified while on the phone with emergency dispatchers. Banu reported to local media that the victim was screaming 'the bear is getting closer and closer,' before being eventually grabbed by the creature.
Miss Diana's boyfriend, who has yet to be identified, witnessed the entire attack, but was unharmed. "I'd rather it had been me," he told Sterile Pro TV.
Sabin Corniou, president of Romania's mountain rescue services, believed the victim had most likely been pulled off the trail and into nearby vegetation, where she would have fallen down the chasm, before being followed down the bear.
Carmen Strungaru, a wild animal specialist, agreed with the sentiment. Strungaru believed it was highly unlikely the bear had pulled the victim down the cliff. On the contrary, the expert suspected that miss Diana had fallen, after attempting to run away.
The incident is strange, as bears do not often make such direct attacks on humans. Corniou said more research must be done to determine what led to such strange behavior from the bear. He wondered about heat-related complications, or a disease possibly acting as the driving factor of the attack.
Romania, a country that sits outside of Russia, is home to some 8,000 brown bears. The population is the largest across Europe. As a result, experts are impassioned to answer the question of why did this bear make the attack it did.
