This is the terrifying moment a hiker filmed himself being charged at by a bear, seconds before falling to his death down a ravine in Greece.
Christos Stavrianidis, 61, recorded the encounter on his phone while walking in Fratko forest in the north of the country, with a friend.
The clip, which lasts just 49 seconds, shows a large brown bear appearing on the path and moving toward him. Moments later, Stavrianidis fell from the cliff as his harrowing screams echoed.
In the recovered footage, he can be heard apparently calling out to his friend Dimitris: ‘Where are you? Come! Come to me,’ as the bear gets closer to the camera.
Seconds later, his voice grows more desperate. ‘Where are you? Come here to me. Come to me, I say. Come to me,’ he repeats.
The hikers had a dog with them that barked furiously at the bear. ‘Throw Dimitris,’ a voice is heard shouting, followed by the sound of spray being released.
Stavrianidis coughs before the video ends, with him plunging into the ravine and calling out in fear.
His friend, identified locally as Dimitris, who saw the attack unfold, described how the pair had been enjoying a day trip before the horror encounter.
He told Greek media: ‘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.
The clip, which lasts just 49 seconds, shows the huge brown bear moving toward him
Christos Stavrianidis, 61, recorded the encounter on his phone before plunging to his death
‘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 explained that he thought the bear was further away, but was shocked to see how close it was to Stavrianidis.
He says his friend shouted for him to ‘come see a bear’ for a second time, and that’s when he witnessed the attack.
Dimitris recalled: ‘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. I didn’t even have time… I was really stunned.
‘The dog jumped in front of me and surprised it for two or three seconds, then it counterattacked. It stood up and rushed forward like that.
‘I managed to get ahead, I took out the pepper spray, sprayed it, and it ran away.’
The bear then turned its attention to his friend, according to Dimitris. He said the animal moved towards him and kicked him. ‘He pushed him, now with his feet, with his body, anyway, he gave him one and left as if he didn’t exist,’ he said. ‘I think he pushed him.’
Dimitris added: ‘It was a huge bear, the first time I’ve seen one. It was a very large adult male, I believe.’
Sharing further details of the incident in the Drama region, he said: ‘At the time it attacked him, I heard an “oh, oh, oh”, it falls the first time and makes an “ah”, it falls the second time and makes an “ah” again and then I heard nothing.
‘The bear, I don’t remember what happened after that, I have a memory gap in that part, where it left from and why it left.’
The bear is seen charging at Dimitris as his dock furiously barks in the background
Stavrianidis plunges into a ravine with his screams echoing before the video cuts out
He continued: ‘I was among the fir trees because I thought it was a good defense point, I shouted to see if he would respond and give some sign of life, nothing.
‘I called 166, 112, to give coordinates. I called friends because it was a difficult area, you can’t approach it, it’s the cliffs, and someone can go from certain points.’
The fatal incident happened on June 8. Stavrianidis’s funeral was held four days later. A forensic report confirmed that he died instantly from the fall.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .