Bear Injures Five In Latest Slovak Attack

A Slovak tourist town declared an emergency on Monday after a bear attack left five people injured, including a child, just days after a woman died in a similar incident in the region

Bratislava, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Mar, 2024) A Slovak tourist town declared an emergency on Monday after a bear attack left five people injured, including a child, just days after a woman died in a similar incident in the region.

They mark the latest bear attacks, which have been on the rise in the central European country.

The bear attack occurred on Sunday in the centre of Liptovsky Mikulas, a town nestled in the foothills of the Tatra mountains near popular ski resorts.

"The bear spent about 20 minutes in the town centre, attacked five people and retreated into the woods," the town's spokeswoman Viktoria Capcikova told AFP.

"Five people, including a 10-year-old child, suffered cuts and bites. The oldest individual treated in the hospital is a 72-year-old man," she said.

The authorities on Monday called on residents not to venture outside residential areas, in particular in the evening and early morning hours as the bear was still on the loose.

Six patrol groups consisting of hunters, police officers and wildlife experts were trying to locate it around Liptovsky Mikulas, nearly 300 kilometres (200 miles) from Bratislava.

"They have at their disposal a drone with thermal vision, night vision, camera traps and service weapons," Capcikova added.

On Friday, a woman from Belarus died following a separate bear attack in the Demanovska Dolina valley area in Liptovsky Mikulas district.

The 31-year-old woman fell to her death from a cliff after being chased by a bear, officials said.