Four climbers were rescued by helicopter from a mountain in Hokkaido after being stranded for about three and a half hours due to an encounter with a brown bear. No one was injured.
On Saturday at 2:30 p.m., a man in his 60s saw a bear about 1.5 meters long around 50 meters ahead on the trail while climbing down a 2,141-meter mountain. Three other climbers caught up with him, and at around 4:50 p.m. one of them made an emergency call reporting they were unable to continue.
According to police, the group was stranded due to the bear but no one was injured. The helicopter rescue took place on Sunday.
The incident occurred as Mount Rausu on the Shiretoko Peninsula reopened to climbers on Sunday after being closed since last August following a fatal bear attack on a hiker.
