Woman mauled to death by brown bear on Sakhalin while berry-picking; rescuers find boots and chewed bucket

A 63-year-old woman was mauled to death by a brown bear on Sakhalin Island, Russia, while picking berries. Rescue teams found only her boots and a chewed bucket at the scene, with her backpack nearby.

Lyudmila Komarova managed to escape the initial attack and raise the alarm in Laguri village after the bear ambushed her on a berry-picking route. The bear—a female with a cub nearby—attacked, and there was then silence. Natalya Borisovna, a friend who arrived first, said she shouted at the animal: "Go away..." The bear lingered near the area as rescuers prepared to search.

A major search had to be aborted overnight because the mother bear and cub remained close to the prey. "The animals were only 35 metres away, making it too dangerous to proceed," Tvokha News outlet reported.

Rescue efforts resumed on Monday. The rescuers fired shots to scare the animals, but the mother bear returned to Komarova’s mauled body. They ultimately had to destroy the mother bear to safeguard responders, and the cub was wounded in the firefight. Komarova's son was among the rescuers who retrieved her body.

It comes just weeks after a Russian tourist was left fighting for her life after being dragged from her tent and mauled by a wild bear. Natalya K., 43, was sleeping on an adventure tour in Kamchatka in eastern Russia when a female bear with a cub climbed into her tent and attacked her. The tourist suffered deep wounds to her scalp and back. Her screams drew other campers who helped drive the bear away. A medic treated her on site before she was rushed to hospital for immediate surgery. Natalya, from Saratov, was also injected with vaccines against rabies and tetanus.