A 31-year-old woman from Belarus has died after being chased by a bear in a forest in northern Slovakia, BBC reports, News.ro reports.

The Slovak Mountain Rescue Service said the lifeless body of a woman was recovered from a forest in the Tatra Mountains, Slovakia, on Friday evening.

A woman was walking with a man when a bear attacked them.

According to the man, he and the woman ran in different directions. There are dense forests and ravines on the territory.

Slovak authorities said the two were walking in the Demenovska Valley when they were chased by a bear.

The woman’s body was discovered by a search dog shortly after her companion went to help.

The bear was still nearby and was scared away by the Mountain Rescue Service with warning shots from a rifle.

It is still unknown how the woman died – whether she fell or was killed by a bear.

Several bear attacks have been recorded in recent years, including a fatal attack in 2021, said to be the first in Slovakia in a century.

Bears are widespread in the Carpathians from Romania, through western Ukraine to Slovakia and Poland.

The Environment Ministry said it will submit a proposal to the next EU Council of Environment Ministers with Romania to reclassify the bears as a protected species because their numbers show they are no longer on the verge of extinction and can be selectively killed.

However, researchers say there has been no explosion in Slovakia’s estimated bear population, which they say remains stable at around 1,275 individuals.