Three people have been attacked by a bear in their residences in Iyama, Nagano Prefecture, with two of them suffering serious injuries, according to media reports.
Local police and other authorities remained on alert Thursday, with the whereabouts of the bear that attacked the three on the previous day still unknown.
According to an NHK report, at around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the bear attacked a 65-year-old man working in a shed on his residential property, then a 96-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman in their home, causing injuries to their faces and other areas.
The two men are believed to have sustained serious injuries, but all three victims remain conscious, NHK quoted police and fire officials as saying.
The bear is believed to be an adult approximately 1 meter in length.
The injured woman recounted the situation before being taken to the hospital. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, she said the bear broke the glass at the entrance to the house and then proceeded to attack both residents in succession. “I was in the kitchen and heard a crashing sound. I wondered what it was, and then saw a large black figure in the living room,” she recalled.
Based on witness reports, the bear is believed to have fled into a nearby vacant house after attacking the three individuals. However, the bear was no longer inside when members of a local hunting association and police inspected the site after dawn, NHK reported.
According to prefectural data, there were 1,430 bear sightings in rural settlements or surrounding areas in the year ended in March — the second-highest in the past decade — and 13 cases of bear-related injuries.
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