4 climbers rescued by helicopter after encountering bear in northern Japan

Four climbers were rescued by helicopter from a mountain in Hokkaido, northern Japan, after being stranded for about three and a half hours due to an encounter with a brown bear, police confirmed.



On July 4 at 2.30pm local time, a man in his 60s saw a bear around 50m ahead on the trail while climbing down a 2,141m mountain.



According to the police, the bear was about 1.5m tall.



Three other climbers caught up with the man, and at around 4.50pm, one of them made an emergency call to report that they were unable to continue after seeing the bear.



No one was injured.



The latest incident came as Mount Rausu on the Shiretoko peninsula, a World Natural Heritage site in Hokkaido, reopened to climbers on July 5.



The climbing routes had been closed since August, when a 26-year-old hiker was killed in a bear attack.