Japan safari park worker killed in bear attack

August 17, 2016 | 10:00

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TOKYO: A safari park employee in Japan died Tuesday (Aug 16) after being attacked by a bear which had somehow climbed into her car, local officials and police said.

An employee of Japan's Gunma Safari Park was attacked and killed by an Asian black bear AFP/Raymond Roig ENLARGE

An Asian black bear was seen climbing into a small vehicle at the Gunma Safari Park, northwest of Tokyo, and attacking park employee Kiyomi Saito inside the car, a local police spokesman said.

Saito, 46, suffered injuries to the left side of her chest and stomach and was rushed to hospital where she was later confirmed dead, the spokesman said.

"The details are not yet known, including how the bear got inside the car," he told AFP, adding the animal was a five-year-old male and weighing 160 kilogrammes (352 pounds).

The safari park was "under police investigation and no details can be confirmed at this point," said Yusuke Yamazaki, a park employee.

A series of wild bear attacks terrified Japan earlier this year, with four people being killed in the northern part of the country in separate incidents in the wild in May and June.

In 2012, an unknown number of bears escaped from snow-covered Hachimantai bear park in northern Akita prefecture, which had kept 38 animals, most of them brown bears.

Two female workers at the facility were later found dead.

AFP

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