Three people were in hospital after a car collided with a bear

Three people were injured and hospitalized after a car collided with a bear in the Tomsk region. This was reported by the press service of the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The accident occurred on October 5 at about 21:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on the ninth kilometer of the highway Kamaevka — Asino — Pervomayskoe. The car Ford Mondeo under the control of 28-year-old driver hit the bear, came out on the roadway. After the collision, the car drove into a ditch and capsized.

“There were two passengers in the car: a 19-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man. As a result of the accident, the driver and passengers with injuries were hospitalized, the report said.

The bear died in an accident. The circumstances of the accident are being established.

In recent months, bears in different regions of Russia have become more likely to go to settlements and approach places where people are. Experts attribute this, among other things, to the lack of natural food - in search of food, animals can enter the territory of settlements.

In some regions, encounters with bears end in attacks. So, in September in the Kolpashevsky district of the Tomsk region, two people died from injuries received during the attack of a predator. According to preliminary data, the men went to the forest in search of the missing cow. Their bodies were found two days later, and an aggressive bear nearby was neutralized.

Due to the frequent outings of bears to people, the authorities of the Tomsk region limited the holding of mass events, excursions and tourist gatherings in the forests of the region. Restrictions must be in effect until at least November 1.

The increase in the number of encounters and attacks of predators comes amid an increase in the population of bears. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, in 2026 there are about 308 thousand brown bears in Russia. Since 1990, their numbers have more than doubled.