A 29-year-old bride-to-be was dragged from the tent she shared with her fiancé by a brown bear and mauled to death during a camping trip in Russia's Altai Mountains. Snezhana Korolyova, a court secretary and keen powerlifter, was killed after the bear ripped through their tent at 1am.
Bear dragged victim across river
The animal "hauled the screaming woman away", mauling her to death before carrying her across the Biya River. It then began burying her in the woodland while frantic campers attempted to distract it, to no avail.
Gamekeepers and police discharged shots into the air, yet refrained from targeting the bear despite "having the opportunity to kill it", reportedly due to Russian laws. The distraught fiancé has not been named.
Witness describes horrific scene
A witness named Alina said: "They were shooting [in the air], but it wasn't frightened. It wouldn't give her up and....dragged her across the river." The bear "brazenly started burying her".
She said: "Her boyfriend is in shock-he had only just proposed to her. It's horrific. Tourists have no fear - they know bears roam around the headwaters, yet they pitched their tent in the corner beside the river."
High alert declared
Locals said around 20 bears are currently roaming the surrounding area. A 10-day "state of high alert" was declared in the village following the bear attack. "During this period, tourists are prohibited from pitching tents in the forest and along the shore," stated a local order.
The bear remains at large, according to local reports. A representative of the Mayminsky District Society of Hunters and Fishermen warned that reduced hunting seasons for wild animals had heightened the threat of attacks upon humans.
"The hunting season was shortened to 30 days. Because of this, the bear population has begun to increase," they said. "Hunters simply can't keep up with their licenses. There's little hunting, the bears are reproducing, and the food supply is scarce-nuts are scarce-so they simply come out to hunt people when they're hungry."
Prosecutors in the Altai Republic have launched an investigation into the woman's death.
