Tourist mauled to death by bear after posing for selfie with its cub in Romania

A motorcyclist was killed by a bear in Romania on Thursday after posing for a selfie with its cub.

Italian tourist Omar Farang Zin, 49, was riding on his motorbike along the Carpathian Mountains in the central region of Arges when a vicious bear attacked him and dragged his body down a ravine.

Police and emergency services said in a joint statement that tourists had alerted them to the attack, and after an hour of searching for him, they found Omar’s lifeless body.

Just a day before the tragic incident, the motorcyclist had posted a series of photos on Facebook of a large bear which appears to be stood extremely close to Omar.

He also shared a selfie posing with a bear cub, in which he can be seen smiling, blissfully unaware of his tragic fate.

A separate video taken by Omar shows him riding his motorcycle as he drives past a bear perched on the side of the road.

‘Here’s the bear!’, he can be heard saying. ‘How beautiful. It’s coming towards me’.

Romanian authorities later confirmed that the bear had been put down.

Omar, a travel-enthusiast, had been working for Milan Malpensa airport just before his death, according to Italian media.

Dozens of friends have taken to Facebook to pay tribute to him.

‘Goodbye Omar, I will always remember you with a smile’, one friend wrote.

Another said: ‘Omar was a great man, he didn’t have to go this way.’

One pal described Omar as ‘everyone’s friend because everyone loved you’.

The tourist’s horrific death is the latest bear-related fatality in Romania.

Last year, a teenage girl was killed in a violent bear attack after the enraged animal dragged her away and dropped her 330ft down a cliff while she went hiking with her boyfriend.

The 19-year-old was hiking in the Bucegi mountains in central Romania last July when she was savaged by the bear in front of her horrified partner.

According to her boyfriend, the bear first grabbed the teen’s leg and hauled her off the path before throwing her down the cliff.

When rescuers arrived on the scene, they found the snarling beast circling her body.

Romania has a brown bear population of 10,000 to 13,000, preliminary results of a multi-year DNA study showed this year, and authorities are struggling to keep residents and tourists in mountain towns safe.

Almost 30 people have been killed by bears in Romania over the last two decades, according to the environment ministry.

Sightings of bears are common and local media regularly report bear attacks on people and livestock.

Last year, Romania’s parliament doubled the annual bear kill quota to 481 bear kills per year to control the size of the bear population and to remove animals that have become accustomed to entering cities in search of food.

Wildlife experts have said bear attacks have increased because of human behaviour as the shrinking of the animals’ habitats due to construction, logging and climate change.

Many bears are also attracted by trash dumps on the outskirts of cities and by discarded food.

Officials have not done enough to step up prevention measures, including electric fences and better trash management, wildlife experts said.

This article was first published by The Daily Mail on 8 July 2025. Lead Image: Dangerous beast: 30 people have been killed by bears in Romania over the past 20 years.

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