THIS is the horrifying moment a bear lunges at a climber – before knocking him off a cliff and sending him plummeting to his death.
Christos Stavrianidis, 61, filmed his terrifying final moments falling into a ravine while on a hike with a pal and his dog in Greece.
protothemaThe bear was seen approaching the man to his right side[/caption]
The bear darted out of sight of the camera before lunging at the manprotothema
protothemaChristos Stavrianidis’ camera span out of control as he was knocked down to his death[/caption]
In the harrowing footage, Stavrianidis records the brown beast striding between the bushes of Fraktos Forest from his point of view.
The bear is seen crawling towards the right side of the frame, before the climber is heard calling for the mammal.
“Where are you? Come! Come to me,” The hiker is heard telling the animal.
He also urges his pal Dmitri to get a look at the huge bear.
And he calls for his mate to throw him a bottle of pepper spray, so he can fend off the predator if it gets too close.
Worryingly, the hiker then starts coughing as he watches the grisly beast.
Moments later, the bear appears to hear him and lunges towards the man, knocking him over and into a ravine.
The camera spins out of control as he plunges to his death.
His friend recounted the frightening ordeal, claiming at the animal jumped towards him before knocking him down.
The shaken friend said: “My friend Christos and I went on a day trip to the Fraktos forest and visited the aircraft he had recently found and we made our way back.
“At one point, near a peak, he went to see the view from above.
“I didn’t follow him because I didn’t feel the need, I went 10 meters ahead and I hear him shouting ‘Dimitris, come see a bear’”.
He then told how he walked towards the cliff because he didn’t think the bear was too close.
The late climber’s friend added: “I go closer, between some fir trees to pass and I hear that something is happening.
“The bear was six or seven meters close to Christos, it attacked, he sprayed it with a small spray he had on him, it ran away, came to me and I saw it two or three meters in front of me.
He said: “I didn’t even have time… I was really stunned.”
The pal told how the dog then got between himself and the bear, giving him time to produce bottle of pepper spray.
He used the gadget to scare the bear off.
Describing the massive predator, the friend said: “It was a huge bear, the first time I’ve seen it… It was a very large adult male.”
Recalling the moments after Stavrianidis was attacked, he said: “I was among the fir trees because I thought it was a good defence point.
“I shouted to see if he would respond and give some sign of life, nothing…”
The harrowing encounter unfolded on June 8, before an autopsy revealed the man died instantly when he hit the bottom of the ravine.
protothemaThe man was heard calling for his friend before his death[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
