This is the shocking moment when an albino bear suddenly appears and runs to attack a group of Ukrainian tourists climbing a Turkish volcano which is also the country’s highest peak.

Agri Governorate declared Mount Ararat which is located in the Turkish province of Agri, a ‘special security zone’ and closed it to climbing in 2015 because of the military operations carried out due to terrorist incidents.

Climbs to Mount Ararat, which has been closed to both official or authorized climbing, finally started in February 2021.

With the lifting of the ban, domestic and foreign tourists coming to Mount Ararat from all over the world climbed to reach the summit.

But in the meantime, it seems that the rare bears had also moved in and clashed with a group of seven unidentified Ukrainian mountaineers, two women, and five men, who came to the district of Dogubayazit in the province of Agri on 25th June.

They had started to climb together with the guide Saffet Akkus when the incident happened.

The mountaineers, who reached the base camp at 3,200 metres on the first day, continued their climb after spending the night there. When they reached the 3,800 metres, two bears came across the mountaineers.

While the brown bear (Ursus arctos) ran away, the albino bear wanted to attack the group. Those moments were captured by a tourist’s cell phone camera before they also turned and ran for their life.

In the footage, the albino bear can be seen coming out from behind the rocks and roaring as it runs towards the screaming tourists.

Frightened by the screaming of the people, the albino bear reportedly turned around and was last seen disappearing towards the summit.

Saffet Akkus, 31, who has been guiding on Mount Ararat for 16 years, said that it was the first time he ever witnessed anything like it and added: “I had never seen a bear on Mount Ararat until today. It was a huge bear. Despite everything, we made the summit climb and went down. Now we will remember the albino bear every time we climb Ararat.”

Brown bears rarely attack humans on sight, and they usually avoid people. They are, however, unpredictable in temperament, and may attack if they feel threatened.