A teenage hiker who is believed to have been killed by a rabid bear after it dragged her and threw her down a 400ft cliff in Romania was on the phone to emergency services desperately asking for help when she was attacked, it has emerged.
The 19-year-old, named locally as Maria Diana, was hiking in the Bucegi mountains in central Romania, near the city of Brasov, on Tuesday when she was savaged by the bear in front of 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 400ft down a cliff.
Local officials revealed ‘terrified’ Maria managed to call the emergency services as she was being chased.
Dan Banu, head of the local mountain rescue service, told local media: ‘She was terrified…you can tell, she was screaming: “The bear is getting closer and closer!”
‘It was all happening live, the [emergency] dispatcher was on the phone and [her partner] was shouting that they were being attacked by the bear and that he had taken the girl. It was terrible!
The 19-year-old, named locally as Maria Diana (pictured), was hiking in the Bucegi mountains in central Romania
The bear first grabbed the teen’s leg and hauled her off the path before throwing her 400ft down a cliff
Emergency services were called to the scene, but Maria was tragically pronounced dead at the scene
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
‘He told us that the bear grabbed the girl by the leg and at one point he didn’t see what he did to her.’
When rescuers arrived on the scene, they found the snarling beast circling the body. The ‘aggressive’ predator tried to attack them and was then shot dead.
The victim’s boyfriend, whose identity has also not been revealed, witnessed the horrific attack but was unharmed.
He told Stirile Pro TV that he and his girlfriend were climbing towards the Spumoasa waterfall when the bear appeared on the path.
He said: ‘It was unexpected. I tried to scare the bear, but the misfortune happened. I’d rather it had been me’.
He managed to save himself, the report added, and was found in a state of shock when rescuers arrived.
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.’
The girl was hiking with her boyfriend
The president of the country’s mountain rescue services said: ‘This is a situation we have not encountered before.’
Romania’s prime minister is set to summon lawmakers to attend an extraordinary parliamentary session to seek ways to prevent bear attacks in the wake of the tragedy
‘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’.
Experts have also questioned whether the young woman was actually killed by the bear.
Carmen Strungaru, specialist in the behavior of wild animals, told local media: ‘The idea that the bear dragged its victim into the precipice appears to be mere conjecture. It is more likely that the girl, frightened, tried to run away, fell into the abyss and the bear with her.’
Despite this, Romania’s prime minister is set to summon lawmakers to attend an extraordinary parliamentary session to seek ways to prevent bear attacks in the wake of the tragedy.
Romania is home to Europe’s largest population of brown bears – up to an estimated 8,000 – outside Russia
Local media have regularly reported bear attacks on people and livestock. In most cases, people have been injured rather than killed
The environment minister said in March that 26 people have been killed by bears in the last 20 years
Romania is home to Europe’s largest population of brown bears – up to an estimated 8,000 – outside Russia.
Marcel Ciolacu told reporters on Wednesday he would call politicians back from the recess that begins at the end of June and continues until the start of September.
He did not specify when the extraordinary session would take place, but said the aim was to agree measures to target high-risk areas.
‘There will not be a free-for-all on shooting bears in Romania,’ he said.
Local media have regularly reported bear attacks on people and livestock. In most cases, people have been injured rather than killed.
The environment minister said in March that 26 people have been killed by bears in the last 20 years.
In 2021, a government decree gave town and city authorities the power to shoot bears that break into people’s gardens and houses if attempts to chase them off or relocate them had failed.
Animal rights campaigners criticised the decree at the time and said officials had not done enough to try other prevention measures, including electric fences and better management.
They have also said the attacks have increased because of human behaviour as the animals’ habitats are threatened by construction, logging and climate change. Many bears are also attracted by rubbish dumps on the outskirts of cities and by food left by tourists.
Pictured: Dragon’s Ridge in the Bucegi Mountains, where Tuesday’s bear attack happened
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 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 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 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.
