Hiker’s watch logged moment man’s heart stopped in Japan bear attack

The victim was walking about 200 metres ahead of a friend near an area known as the '560-meter rocky peak,' when the friend heard a cry for help.

The smart watch of a Japanese hiker who was killed in a bear mauling has provided terrifying insight into the man’s final moments, including when the bear allegedly returned to retrieve his body.

His death comes during a year the country has seen a record number of bear attacks. Thirteen people have died since the start of April, according to the Japanese environment ministry. The total number of attacks stands at 220 — also a record, Japanese news outlet NHK reported in late November, with the most deaths occurring in the northern prefecture of Iwate.

GPS from the hiker’s watch, which logged the 1,661-meter route he was taking down Mount Rausu in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, and tracked his heart rate, was retrieved after the deadly attack on Aug. 14, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun wrote.

The man was walking about 200 metres ahead of a friend near an area known as the “560-meter rocky peak,” when the friend heard a cry for help and ran down a slope to find the man being dragged by a brown bear into the bushes, according to the Japanese newspaper.

The watch’s data recorded erratic movements at around 11 a.m., including a sudden deviation from the hiking trail, a descent down a slope lined with trees, and circling in an area thick with foliage, CBS News reported.

It also showed that the man’s heart stopped beating between 90 and 120 metres from the trail, indicating that he had died.

The watch did not move from the area where the man’s heart stopped all night, but began moving around 9:00 a.m. the following morning, suggesting the bear came back for his body, which it dragged more than 100 metres through the woods, Asahi wrote.

Three days later, a bear with two cubs was seen dragging the body in its mouth, the outlet added. Hunters killed all three, it said.