- The bear attacked the sherpa, 16, at the Ergaki National Park in Sayan Mountains
- Two tourists searched for the missing boy and had to fend off the predator
- One stabbed it with a penknife while the other ran back to camp to raise alarm
- Investigators found the bear feasting on the corpse and later shot and killed it
A brown bear has eaten and killed a 16-year-old boy at a Russian national park before it was stabbed in the neck with a penknife by a tourist who was also attacked by the predator.
The beast half ate the teenager, floored the tourist and lunged at another when they went in search of the missing boy.
The bear played dead after being stabbed before it was later shot and killed.
When the tourist stabbed the bear with the pocket knife, his companion fled back to camp where they raised the alarm.
Inspectors at Ergaki National Park in the Sayan Mountains rushed to the scene where they found the bear lying on the devoured remains of the teenager some 500 yards from the tourist camp.
They shot and wounded the wild bear, which then fled.
Early next morning they tracked and killed the ‘aggressive’ animal which tried to attack them.
‘After hours of tracking, the man-eating bear was killed by the park staff,’ said a statement from the national park.
The male tourist suffered scratches, cuts and bruises from his fight with the bear.
The boy, from Abakan, was working as a sherpa for the holiday group when he was attacked and killed at around 11am on Monday.
The two men were confronted by the bear nine hours later when they left their tents to check for him.
Igor Gryazin, director of the national park, said the boy had taken a short cut which exposed him to additional danger.
Prolonged cold weather this year had led to thick snow cover, preventing the bears from feeding properly.
Ergaki is known as Russia’s Yosemite for its similarity to the Californian national park.
