“Dad held his cheek and nose in his hand”

The bear attacked father Pär Sundström.

Then 14-year-old son Evert ran forward and punched the bear in the head.

– If Evert hadn’t been there, his father probably wouldn’t be alive now, says mother Louise Backström.

This year’s bear hunt had only been underway for a few hours when 14-year-old Evert Sundström snapped a photo with his father’s mobile phone, walking on a dirt road deep in Ljusdal’s forests.

What neither of them knew at the time was that just a few hours later they would be attacked and mauled by an angry and stressed female bear on the same dirt road.

– When we meet the bear, it crosses the road towards us. It then turns and runs towards dad. We hadn’t fired a shot yet, but the bear ends up on top of dad, who then ends up on his knees, Evert tells Aftonbladet, when he’s sitting in the car on the way home from the hospital a little over a day after the attack.

He continues to tell.

– It goes black for me for a moment, but I run forward and hit the bear with my right hand, and the bear then holds my left arm and jerks it back and forth, and in my little finger.

Then it goes black again and the next time he sees his father, Evert himself is lying on the ground.

“Holding the cheek in the hand”

He tells how he sees the father get up and fire a shot with the rifle, which hits the bear in the stomach, he continues to explain.

– Dad has the right side of his cheek and nose in his hand. It was very broken, I saw the cheekbone and everything, says Evert.

The bear goes away and lies down by a tree. But only after a little while she sits up again.

– Then dad shoots three or four more times.

– I said we should call 112, but my father said we should call a hunting colleague who can pick us up, but I called 112 anyway.

Was seriously injured

Evert’s father was picked up by ambulance helicopter and taken to the hospital in Umeå with serious injuries.

Evert himself was taken by ambulance to hospital, where the doctors diagnosed a broken wrist in two places, as well as a broken little finger.

He was later transported to the University Hospital in Uppsala where he was operated on for the injuries to his left arm.

Father Pär Sundström remains in the hospital in Umeå, but on Wednesday he too will be transported to the University Hospital in Uppsala for surgery.

– It’s perfectly fine with me, a little sore, but otherwise fine I think. A few parts are missing… parts of the face, says Pär Sundström, over the phone on Tuesday evening.

He describes the incident as pure coincidence.

– It was pure bad luck that it happened, but at the same time lucky that it went so well anyway. It could have gone worse, he says.

At the same time on Tuesday evening, Evert and mother Louise Backström are sitting in the car on their way home to Ljusdal again.

– It’s terrible what happened, but at the same time it’s lucky that Evert was there, otherwise his father probably wouldn’t be alive now, Louise Backström.