“The bear dragged her from the path and threw her 120 meters into the valley,” Romanian officials said.
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A 19-year-old woman tragically lost her life after being attacked by a bear that threw her off a cliff during a hike with her boyfriend. The incident occurred on July 9th when Maria Diana was hiking on the Jepii Mici trail in the beautiful Bucegi Mountains of Romania.
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During the horrifying attack, Maria and her boyfriend tried desperately to reach local emergency services. Her brave boyfriend was the first to get through to Salvamont Prahova, a local search and rescue organization. He told them they were being chased by a bear and provided their location.
Not long after, Maria also managed to make a call to the same rescue team, but the connection was abruptly cut short as the bear attacked. Dan Banu, head of Salvamont Prahova, recounted, “She was terrified… you can hear her screaming, ‘The bear is getting closer and closer!’”
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As the 112 emergency dispatcher listened in horror, the boyfriend shouted that the bear had grabbed Maria by the leg. The bear threw her 400 feet into the valley. Sadly, Maria died at the scene.
Rescuers from Salvamont Prahova tried to recover her body, but the bear still lingered nearby, making the operation extremely dangerous. “We were informed that a tourist was attacked by a bear on the Jepii Mici trail, near Valea Spumoasa,” the organization announced. “An intervention team found the victim deceased on the valley floor. The recovery operation is incredibly tough due to the rugged terrain and the bear, which is approximately 10-15 meters from the mountain rescuers.”
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The bear had to be killed after it also attacked the rescuers. “It was terrible! We’ve never faced such an extreme situation in the last 10-15 years,” a spokesperson from Salvamont Prahova told the media.
Romania’s Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet, expressed his condolences to Maria’s family and emphasized the primary duty of protecting human life over anything else. “We must protect nature and biodiversity, but above all, we must protect people’s lives,” he stated.
During a press conference at the NATO summit in Washington, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said, “We cannot protect animals at the expense of people.” Romania, home to Europe’s largest population of brown bears, faces the challenge of balancing wildlife conservation and human safety. These powerful creatures can reach speeds of 30 mph and stand as tall as 7 feet.
