Three persons including two women were mauled by a wild bear in a forest in Odisha's Deogarh district, official sources said here today.
Two women of Panibhandar village had gone to nearby Balipatia forests to collect forest produces on Thursday when they were attacked by the wild bear.
As they did not return home, a group of villagers went into the woods in search of the duo yesterday and spotted the bear devouring their body parts, said Ramakanta Mishra, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Deogarh.
The bear then turned its ire on to the villagers and chased them. While the group managed to flee, one Chaitanya Sahu among them, climbed up a tree in his desperate attempt to save himself from the wrath of the animal, Mishra said.
Finding another prey, the bear climbed the tree and also killed him before devouring his body, he said.
After being informed of the incident, forest and police personnel rushed to the spot today and found the three bodies bereft of most organs, Mishra said.
Post-mortem was conducted on the bodies at the district hospital here even as the incident created a sense of fear and panic in the area.
