Authorities promised to investigate the incident.
MOSCOW – A skier in Romania was lucky when he was chased by a brown bear on the slopes this week, with spectators saying that the skier’s quick thinking probably saved his life.
The video of the dramatic moment at Romania’s Predeal mountain resort, where several bears have been spotted in recent years, was captured by shocked witnesses.
During the chase, spectators tried to distract the bear by whistling and screaming, but the skier was saved by his own ingenious maneuver.
“He made a very cool move, which is really safe when you want to escape the bear,” said Angel Somicu, who spotted the bear an hour earlier with another skier, Daniel Jenei, to ABC News. “He dropped the bag and, well, the bear was dragged to the bag.”
Another dramatic video shot on a cable car scene shows the bear chasing the skier at high speed before he finally wags his tail.
The bear chase sparked panic among mountain skiers after authorities informed them of the dramatic sighting.
“The ski patrol stopped us and told us that there was a bear at the foot of the slope,” said Jenei. “Everyone who was there threw their skis and ran from the slope.”
After the bear was driven away, authorities promised to investigate the situation and relocate the bear to a more secure area.
Local police told ABC News that they received three emergency calls about the bear being spotted at various 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 relocating the bear, which should be hibernating now, anyway, but in recent years, we have more bears facing skiers in the winter. “