The mother of 19-year-old woman was left with no choice but to listen on the phone to her daughter as she was mauled to death by bears in Russia.
Olga Moskalyova tragically lost her life in 2011, after she and her stepfather, Igor Tsyganenkov, went out to a river in the village of Termalniy, near Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy in the east of Siberia.
The pair had just gone to retrieve a fishing rod Igor had left previously, so Olga’s mother, Tatiana, was taken by surprise when she received a call from Olga during their outing.
The teenager had gone out with her stepdad to the river. (Getty Stock Photo)
When Tatiana answered the phone, she heard her daughter say: “Mom, the bear is eating me! Mom, it’s such agony. Mom, help!’
Tatiana was so surprised that she initially thought Olga was joking. But then she heard the sounds of ‘chewing’.
She recalled: “I heard the real horror and pain in Olga’s voice, and the sounds of a bear growling and chewing. I could have died then and there from shock.”
Tatiana didn’t know at the time that Igor had already been killed when she heard from her daughter. A bear had overpowered her husband and broken his neck.
Olga saw her stepfather being attacked and attempted to escape the mother bear, but she caught up and grabbed her leg.
She managed to get her mom on the phone, and over the course of three different phone calls, Tatiana listened as her daughter was attacked.
Tatiana heard the bear attack her daughter. (Getty Stock Photo)
In the second call, Olga said: “Mum, the bears are back. She came back and brought her three babies. They’re… eating me.”
Her last and final call came almost an hour after the first, and indicated Olga wasn’t able to fight for much longer.
She said: “Mum, it’s not hurting any more. I don’t feel the pain. Forgive me for everything, I love you so much.”
Horrified, the mother had alerted the police and relatives in the village and begged them to rush to the river, but Olga was already dead by the time Igor’s brother arrived at the scene with police.
Hunters were then sent into the area to find the bears responsible for the killings.
Tatiana paid tribute to her daughter in the wake of her untimely death, saying: “My daughter was such fun. She was so cheerful, friendly, and warm.
“She had graduated from music school, and just days before the bear attack she got her driving licence.”
Featured Image Credit: Family handout/Joerg Clephas via Getty
