Japanese man attacked by bears

A Japanese man was attacked by bears Friday while collecting edible wild plants, causing him to lose vision in his right eye, police said.

Photo: Japanese man attacked by bears

Japanese man attacked by bears

Mineyuki Sakamoto, a 58-year-old construction worker, was mauled on his head, back and left arm by one of two bears on a mountainous road in Uozu city, said a local police official who identified himself only as Sakata.

Sakamoto had been gathering wild plants with two other people when a pair of bears came out of the bushes. He was rushed to a nearby hospital after the attack, and doctors said he had lost his sight in the right eye, Sakata said.

The two other people were not injured.

Uozu, a coastal city in Toyama Prefecture (state), is 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Tokyo.

On Thursday, two men were seriously injured after they were attacked by bears in a separate incident in northern Japan, where wild bears emerge out of hibernation at this time of the year, police said, reports the AP.

I.L.