A hiker attacked by a wild brown bear was found dead in northern Japan on Friday, officials said, a day after the bloody encounter that reportedly saw him dragged into a forest.

The hiker in his 20s tried to fight off the large animal but was pulled into the nearby woods with his legs bleeding profusely, local media outlets including the Yomiuri Shimbun newspape r said.

The man was attacked while walking a trail on Mount Rausu on the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday morning, a local police spokesman told AFP.

On Friday afternoon, he was found and taken to a hospital where he was officially pronounced dead, according to a Hokkaido government official.

Hunters also caught and killed a bear near the trail, an official working for Shari town — where the mountain is — told AFP.

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