Video of the dramatic moment in Romania’s Predeal mountain resort, where several bears have been sighted in recent years, was captured by shocked eyewitnesses.
During the chase, onlookers tried to distract the bear by whistling and yelling, but the skier was saved by his own ingenious maneuver.
“He made a cool move, which is really safe if you want to get away from the bear,” Angel Somicu, who had seen the bear an hour earlier, along with another skier, Daniel Jenei, told ABC News. “He dropped his bag and, well, the bear was dragged to the bag.”
Another dramatic video shot on the spot from a ski lift shows the bear chasing the skier at speed before finally shaking his tail.
The bear chase caused panic among skiers on the mountain after authorities notified them of the dramatic sighting.
“Ski patrol stopped us and told us there was a bear down the slope,” said Jenei. “All the people down there threw their skis down and ran down the slope.”
After the bear was chased away, authorities have now reportedly pledged to investigate the situation and move the bear to a safer area.
Local police told ABC News that they had received three emergency calls about the bear being spotted at different times of the day.
“The skier did the right thing,” Ion Zaharia, a police spokesman in Brasov, Romania, told ABC News. “The bear was distracted by things in his backpack. We are considering moving the bear, which should be hibernating by now anyway, but in recent years we have had more bears confronting skiers in the winter.”
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