The News Minute| November 26, 2014| 7.15 pm IST

A 22-year old Indian student from New Jersey was mauled to death by a 300-pound black bear in the Apshawa Reserve earlier this year. In September, Darsh Patel was hiking with four other friends in the reserve when they were warned of a big black bear on the loose. However, the group proceeded to hike further, apparently to get a closer look of the bear.

On going ahead, they spotted the bear at which point Patel even took some photos of the bear on his phone. When the bear got close the group started running away from it but Patel, having lost a shoe and his stamina while running, couldn’t escape in time.

(Image: A picture of the bear clicked by Darsh Patel on his phone. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk)

The rest of the group escaped and called the authorities, who rushed to the site. The bear was reportedly circling Patel’s mauled body when they found it and the police shot the bear down to get to the body.

Authorities say that Patel is the first person to be killed by a bear in the state of New Jersey. 

(Image: A picture of the bear clicked by Darsh Patel on his phone. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk)