The man, who called himself Alexander, says he was attacked by a bear and kept in its den. Photo / Supplied
The man, who called himself Alexander, says he was attacked by a bear and kept in its den. Photo / Supplied
WARNING: Graphic Images.
The tragic truth behind the story of an emaciated man claimed to have miraculously survived in a bear den in Russia for a month has been revealed.
Last week, it was reported that a Russian man had been rescued by hunting dogs from a bear den from the wilderness of Tuva, deep in Siberia.
There were claims that the bear broke "Alexander's" spine and kept him there for a month, however, he miraculously survived the horrific ordeal by drinking his own urine.
The incredible story of a "Russian mummy saved by hunting dogs" was published around the world, with shocking photos and images showing the man with dry blood and dirt encrusting his body while in hospital.
However, it turned out the unbelievable story ended up being not true, the Independent reports.
EADaily news agency, the publisher who shared the bear story, had offered a cash reward for anyone who can identify the man, known as "Alexander" to find out the true story.
But every hospital in Tuva has denied that the man had been a patient, the Daily Mail reports.
The man, who called himself Alexander, says he was attacked by a bear and kept in its den. Photo / Supplied
At the same time, independent researchers unveiled that the video clip may have come from Kazakhstan, Russia's neighbour.
Now these researchers have tracked down the chief doctor of Aktobe Medical Centre in Kazakhstan, Dr Rustam Isaev, who insisted the man, named Alexander P, was his patient and that the man had not been in Russia nor encountered a wild beast, Mail Online reports.
The chief told Mail Online that the man had been illegally filmed and shared by medics and has vowed to find and fire those responsible.
"As chief doctor here I'm saying you, this is our guy, he is not from Tuva nor anywhere else in Russia," he said.
"Alexander P is a resident of Aktobe city in Kazakhstan.
"He was treated in our hospital and at the end of this week was discharged, in satisfactory condition, into his mother's care.
"He suffers from psoriasis. He had been lying at home, suffering from apathy, he did not want to live. He was in a depressive state.
'"He did not get treatment for his skin condition.
"He neglected his psoriasis, and in such a state he was brought to us.
Brown bears have been known to partially or completely bury animals they kill. Photo / Supplied
The senior medic said the man's mother did not want any further information released about her son's condition.
A family acquaintance said that she was deeply upset over the video purporting to show her son as the victim of a distressing bear attack.
The chief doctor is furious at the way footage of the naked man, taken during a medical examination, was leaked online and then given a false storyline.
"Most likely these are young medical staff, who has no experience, who have never seen such patients," the chief said.
"I am conducting an internal investigation [to find out who leaked the footage]."
He also said it was important to stop the false rumours.
The man graduated from Aktobe State University in 1998.
While he was in hospital, he told visitors that his mother and girlfriend were visiting him.
How did the false story go viral?
UK media picked up the story from a well-known syndication service, which sources its material from Russian tabloids.
News about Siberian cannibals, mass murderers, baby killers, sadist gynaecologists, grandmas killed in bloody sex games all get sent by the trusted syndication — which is why the "Russian mummy" story didn't seem so far-fetched.
However, the syndication sources a story from a Russian tabloid, EADaily, which itself forgot to fact check the story as it was too clickable to pass.
Alexei Demin, editor of EADaily, told the Independent that he had received the video of the man from a single local source, who had, in turn, received the video from his "hunter friends via social media".
The man, who called himself Alexander, says he was attacked by a bear and kept in its den. Photo / Supplied
He added his website was waiting for additional details, two days after publication.
EADaily was most likely happy with the success of the article, with it being the most popular story on the site, with more than 300,000 views.
However, the same video and photos had gone viral a week earlier — with an amazing story of a man, also called "Alexander", who funnily enough survived the unsurvivable after he emerged from underground in a cemetery at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Rescuers said that the man looked like a mummy when he was found in the den. Photo / Supplied
Local teenagers shared pictures and videos of the dead-alive Alexander on social media.
Unsurprisingly, local officials later confirmed the story was fake, revealing there had been no discovery of new bodies, or earth-moving phenomena, at the cemetery.
On Thursday, Demin admitted that Tuva's local police also had contacted the publication, accusing them of creating a fake bear news story.
The Independent believes a puppet and/or special effects were used to trick people into believing that both stories were true.
As of yet, it isn't clear why there had been attempts by people to plant a fake story, but several possibilities could be they were aiming to demonstrate the folly of viral news or to have a joke.
