A MISSING woman has been found crying and covered in blood after having her face ripped off by a bear.
Rameshwari Devi, 50, spent an entire night alone in the forest after being attacked and was only discovered when rescue teams heard her desperate appeals for help.
Devi was wandering around the woodlands in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, India, when she was hunted down by a bear.
She had gone into the forest near Paw village on Wednesday morning to collect grass for livestock but never returned home, according to officials.
Her family quickly alerted police and the forest rescue department as a search party was formed by concerned villagers.
There remained no sign of Devi for 24 hours.
read more in bear attacks
BEAR RAMPAGE
Horror as grizzly bear attacks children on school trip leaving 11 injured
BEAR HUNT
Horror moment black bear chases boy, 11, in store & jumps over counter to get him
Faint cries were then suddenly heard from behind a tree by the large crowd on Thursday.
Searchers found a seriously injured Devi sat by an oak tree on a steep slope about 2.5 miles away from the nearest road.
Footage captures the search team guiding a dishevelled Devi to safety through a grassy passage.
Her face was covered by a large black piece of fabric to hide the horror wounds.
At the end of the short clip she can be seen struggling to hold up her own weight as she slumps to the ground.
Rescue teams carried her to the Pokhari Community Health Centre for emergency first aid.
She was later transferred by helicopter to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rishikesh due to the severity of her injuries.
Doctors later confirmed she had suffered severe injuries to her face and head.
She was in a critical condition receiving treatment as of Friday night.
The bear is yet to be found.
District Magistrate Abhishek Tripathi has now directed forest officials to mobilise patrols in vulnerable areas, particularly at night and early morning.
Local residents have also been provided with safety equipment to fend off any wandering beasts.
World’s most horrific bear attacks
BEARS have a rather loveable image thanks to many children having a soft teddy bear to cuddle at night but the reality can be very different.
While bear attacks on humans are relatively rare they can be particularly vicious, with the powerful animals able to smash skulls, pulp faces and skin their victims alive.
Double mauling
Todd Orr managed to survive not one but two savage maulings while he was out hiking in Montana in October 2016.
Orr came across an irate mummy bear who launched an attack to protect her two cubs.
He was left with a bloody face, damaged shoulder and needed eight hours of stitching to sort out his injuries.
Ranch attack
Allena Hansen was mauled by a black bear on her ranch in the Sequoia Mountains, California, in 2008.
In the brutal attack she lost her nose, ears and 14 teeth.
Hansen told the Independent: “When the bear attacked me it just grabbed me by the ears and bit into my face and took me down.
“So basically my face was ripped off.”
Skinned alive
Russian soldier Alexey Ivanovsky, 36, was reportedly “skinned alive” by a mother bear protecting her two cubs in October 2019.
Alexey was collecting crabs in the remote Kuril islands in eastern Russia when he was cornered by a “group” of brown bears including cubs in a pincer movement, according to reports.
It was an adult female that attacked him, clasping his leg in its teeth and clawing off his skin while trying to drag him away.
Face ripped off
Paramedic Wes Perkins, from Alaska, is lucky to be alive after going out on a bear hunt with two pals.
The tables were turned though when an 8ft grizzly bear attacked, ripping Perkins’ entire face off.
Doctors had to use part of his fibula to create a jaw to replace what the bear ripped off of his face.
The terrifying attack comes after a grizzly bear attacked children and teachers on a school trip, leaving at least 11 injured.
A group of fourth and fifth graders were reportedly on a walk with teachers when the fierce animal attacked them in Canada.
jungle rumble
I’m A Celeb star Ruby Wax’s secret feud with TV rival who ‘stole her career’
XMAS SPIRIT
Town goes wild celebrating ‘Xmas for alcoholics’ as girls faceplant in street
It follows a young wrestler who told The Sun about the time he was mauled by a savage 500lb grizzly bear.
Kendell Cummings, 23, felt like “a snack” after having chunks ripped from his face in an encounter with a female grizzly in the Wyoming wilderness.