RTSiberia saw a miraculous survival after a train apparently intentionally ran over a bear running along the tracks. The train drivers, who recorded the incident on camera, could face up to two years behind bars.
The 20-second video showing the bear running along the tracks and the locomotive hitting it surfaced on YouTube on Wednesday. The video was shot from the driver’s cabin with shouts heard inciting the driver: “Run it over!”
The incident happened at about 2am earlier this week in the Russian city of Norilsk, in Russia’s far north, according to the Western Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office. The prosecutor said that an investigation has been launched into the case.
Following the incident, local security services sent a special search group to find the bear. After over 24 hours, the animal was discovered safe and sound.
“The moldboard on the locomotive, which is used to clean the tracks from snow, just threw the bear off the tracks,” Pyotr Liholitov, the spokesman for Norilsk Nickel, the company that owns the part of the railroad where the incident took place, told Govorit Moskva radio station.
He added that the drivers were in violation of their responsibilities as they were obliged to stop the locomotive.
“We are conducting the inspection not because we feel sorry for the bear, but we will assess the legality of the crew’s actions. We cannot leave this video without attention,” Senior Assistant Prosecutor Oksana Gorbunova said, NGS.Novosti reported.
A Russian animal rights watchdog said that the drivers of the train could face up to two years in prison for cruelty to animals.
“Yes, I think the shouts [“Run it over!”] can be qualified as sadistic,” the president of the Vita Animal Rights’ Center, Irina Novozhilova, told Govorit Moskva.
Someone please shoot these guys.
Ok just to be clear im not advocating killing any animals with trains
but have you ever seen or know how long it takes to stop a train?
yes I agree they could have at least tried to slow it down blow the horn or ?, and yelling to purposely run it over is sick
but until you have been the Engineer at the controls of a locomotive you have no Idea what it takes to stop one once its up and rolling
glad to find that the Bear is ok and it was pushed out from in front of the train by the moldboard
I really dont understand why someone would film this and post it on YouTube
that my friends IS the sick part of this
Yeah I know all that, but I am at the point to start killing off evil !!
Norilsk Nickel is a responsible company increasingly focused on their environmental impact. If this was their staff driving the train, it will be properly dealt with.