A video of the unfortunate climber‘s final moments is in the hands of authorities investigating the case, with the audio-visual footage deemed the most reliable evidence regarding the circumstances under which the 61-year-old man ended up in the ravine and died instantly.

Christos Stavrianidis seems to have been recording with his mobile phone camera the landscape in which he and his close friend were in, in the forest of Fraktos in Drama, but also the moment when the bear made its appearance and the beginning of the tragedy began to be written.

As the head of the rescue team of OFKATH, Christos Rammos, explained to protothema.gr, at the beginning of this video the landscape is seen from afar and in the next few seconds the bear appears, with the unfortunate Christos calling his friend in order to approach him and asking him to bring the pepper spray, which they had on them. “Then you hear the sound of the spray, you can see the dog pouncing on the animal and the bear growling,” the rescuer points out.

One of the factors that appears to have proved fatal to the tragic outcome is that the dog attacked the bear just as it was about to move away from the trail, and so it appears to have approached the 61-year-old again. At that point, the video is interrupted and it is estimated that it was the moment the cell phone fell from the victim’s hands and he ended up in the ravine, resulting in his tragic death, falling 150 feet.

When the rescuers of OFKATH arrived at the scene, they found signs of the bear, such as footprints and broken branches, but the animal had already moved away. Left behind was the 61-year-old’s friend, who explained exactly what had happened, and so the search for Christos’ body began.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, the last act of the drama played out with the funeral of the 61-year-old, which took place in a deep atmosphere of mourning, in the Holy Metropolitan Church of Drama. Tragic figures, apart from relatives and friends, were the wife and three children of the unfortunate man, who could not believe that they lost their beloved man from one moment to the next.

As revealed by the forensic examination, the 61-year-old’s death was instantaneous once he fell into the ravine.

According to reports, the forensic examination of his body revealed no signs that the bear attacked him, causing him to fall into the ravine.

From the findings of the autopsy, which was completed on Wednesday morning, it appears that the unfortunate 61-year-old died from the fall from the high altitude. Specifically, according to forensic pathologist Nikos Kifnidis, his body had fractures from a fall, including the spine and the thoracic and cervical spine, a ruptured spinal cord, rib fractures, internal bleeding and 2.5 liters of blood in the chest cavity.

In addition, no findings were found to indicate an attack by the wild animal, such as abrasions from her claws or injuries from her teeth.

One of the scenarios being considered is that the 61-year-old man saw the bear, became frightened, slipped and then fell into the ravine, but was not attacked by the animal, as the forensic examination did not find that he made contact with it before it ended up in the ravine.

At the same time, the victim’s mobile phone has been found and has been sent for analysis to the ELS laboratories.