A horrifying incident reported where three tourists in Russia met a terrible fate after their helicopter crashed due to bad weather and later their bodies were dragged and eaten by bears. The remaining bodies of the tourists have been retrieved and an investigation is underway to understand what caused such a disturbing incident to take place.
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25-year-old former biathlete Igor Malinovskii was piloting a helicopter in the Kamchatka peninsula in far east Siberia when the vehicle tragically crashed.
The dead bodies of 3 tourists who died in the tragic helicopter crash in Russia met a terrible fate as they were dragged and eaten by bears.
The 3 people who were boarding the plane were 39-year-old mobile phone company executive Sergey Kolesnyak and Zoya Kaygorodova, a businesswoman in her mid-30s who organized the trip to the popular tourist destination.
The incident happened on July 16, and as the trip went awry, the bad weather had cut off the contact of the helicopter and reports suggest that the vehicle caught fire and crashed.
Rescue teams found the charred remains of the helicopter the next day, though an investigation determined the bodies of the three had been dragged away and eaten by bears after the crash.
Credit: East2West
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The remaining bodies of the tourists have been recovered and an investigation into the case is underway.
Their bodies had been 'dragged away and gnawed by brown bears' before investigators could reach the site of the crash.
25-year-old Malinovskii was a five times junior world biathlon champion but his athletic career had been put on hold during the pandemic.
Credit: East2West
During the covid times, the former athlete trained as a helicopter pilot and was working for his father's company transporting tourists across Kamchatka in the far eastern Siberian peninsula.
The Kamchatka region of Russia is famous for volcanoes and glaciers, but there are also plenty of bear-infested areas which make it potentially dangerous for tourists visiting the area.
Credit: East2West
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Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, more and more Russians are taking flights for domestic holidays.
And even though getting attacked by a bear is a rare but risky occurrence for tourists in Russia as last year a tourist was killed by one while camping with friends.
42-year-old Yevgeny Starkov was camping with three friends in the Yergaki Nature Park when a bear attacked as they were putting away their tents.
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Starkov was mauled to death while his friends had to travel barefoot for seven hours to get help, with bad weather conditions meaning a rescue helicopter was unable to reach them.
The investigation suggested that the bear was attracted by the camper's food, attacking them early in the morning as they packed up their belongings and forcing the men to flee.
In the case of an attack by brown bears, the advice is to lay on the ground and play dead, whereas for black bears you are supposed to make yourself as big as possible to scare it off.