Seconds from death: student photographs bear moments before it killed him

• Images retrieved from 22-year-old’s phone reveal final moments
• Rutgers University student was mauled to death by 300lb animal

A series of newly released photographs reveal the final moments of a New Jersey student’s life before he was killed by a bear.

Darsh Patel, a 22-year-old Rutgers University student, was hiking with four friends in the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford, New Jersey, in September when he was mauled to death by a 300-pound black bear.

On Tuesday, West Milford police released five photos from Patel’s phone that show the bear standing behind a log just 100ft away from the hikers, the Record reported. In each photo, the bear appears to be getting closer to the hikers. Police said the bear in the photos was the same bear that killed Patel just a short while later.

After taking the photos, they turned from the bear as the animal lumbered toward them. The group fled into the woods when the bear was about 15ft from them, running in separate directions.

Patel’s friends told police investigators that they last saw him climbing a rock formation with the bear in close pursuit as he yelled to his friends to continue, the paper said.

After regrouping, Patel’s friends, who were uninjured, realized he was missing and called the police.

After two hours, police found Patel’s body with the bear lingering nearby. Police shot the bear dead. A necropsy indicated that the bear had ingested human body parts and bits of clothing, the Record reported.

Patel’s phone was later recovered with a bite mark from the bear’s teeth.

To date, Patel is the only person known to have died from a bear attack in New Jersey.

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