Wild bears ransacked a graveyard and ate the remains of the dead including a child after digging up shallow graves. The horrifying scene was witnessed by a grieving father who saw at least 20 coffins had been ripped apart. The two bears have been shot dead by hunters. A video shows the carnage some five miles from Elzovo in remote Kamchatka region. The animals smashed through metal fences and ripped into the recently buried graves.

Pavel Korotaev, who was visiting the graves of his children, said, "The bears even broke the metal fences. I can't be sure the total because I was afraid to go further. A bear usually protects its prey and does not leave it. I was lucky, apparently the animal was sleeping." Hunters are now monitoring the graveyard amid fears that more bears were involved in the attack and will return. Paw prints from the animals are visible at the site.

Watch Video of Damaged Graves Done by Wild Bears

Locals have claimed that the 'lazy' grave diggers were to be blamed for not digging them deep enough. Local official Dmitry Shchipitsyn had sent a team to assess the damage. He also said, "In our opinion, the reason that the bear unearthed the graves was that funeral agencies had done their work in a poor way. They did not dig the graves as deep as they should have done. All the disturbed burials were made this winter and spring." Like the locals, he also accused the grave diggers of being 'too lazy' to dig to the correct depth. Russian rules dictate that burials should be to a minimum of five feet deep.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 24, 2018 06:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).