A bear attacked and killed a 16-year-old boy
© Ergaki ParkA bear attacked and killed a 16-year-old boy before eating his body
A tragic teen was savaged to death by a bear who devoured "half of his body" when he took a shortcut into more dangerous paths in a Russian national park.

Two other tourists were confronted by the ferocious predator nine hours later when they went to look for the 16-year-old tour guide and were confronted by the bear who lunged at them.

One of the men managed to stab the animal in the neck with a pen knife several times before playing-dead and the other rushed back to raise the alarm.

Inspectors at Ergaki National Park made a grim discovery when they discovered the bear lying on the 16-year-old boy's half-eaten body some 500 yards from the tourist camp in the Sayan Mountains.

They shot and wounded the wild bear, which then fled.

The following day the team set off to kill the predator which again tried to attack.

"After hours of tracking, the man-eating bear was killed by the park staff," said a statement from the national park.

A male tourist suffered scratches, cuts, and bruises from his fight with the bear.

The boy, from Abakan, was working as a sherpa for the holiday group when he was attacked after taking a shortcut which had "exposed him to additional danger", Igor Gryazin, director of the national park, said.

Ergaki is known as Russia's Yosemite for its similarity to the Californian national park.

Many regions in Russia have reported a higher-than-usual number of bear attacks on humans since last year.

Experts suggest that extreme weather could be disrupting the bears' food supply, and fishing nets cutting off access to salmon.

It is theorised that hot and dry weather may have resulted in food shortages for the bears - with them unable to forage.

Bears are therefore being driven to have more contact with humans as they go searching for food.