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Siberian train driver caught hitting bear faces $35 fine

A video showing the bear running away along the snow-covered track in the outskirts of Siberia's Norilsk has gone viral and attracted attention of Siberian transport officials

© Fotokhronika TASS/Grigory Kalachyan and Leonid Sverdlov

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Siberian train drivers say wanted to scare bear away

NOVOSIBIRSK, December 15. /TASS/. The train driver who deliberately ran over a brown bear on a railway track in Siberia in early December is facing a 2,000 ruble ($35) fine, local transport prosecutors said on Monday.

A 20-second footage showing the bear running away along the snow-covered track in the outskirts of the industrial city of Norilsk has gone viral on the Internet and attracted attention of Siberian transport officials.

Local police has opened an animal cruelty probe while prosecutors accused the driver of deliberately speeding up the train and distracting from driving to shoot the video on his cellphone.

The train driver claimed earlier that he did not want to hurt the animal and sped up the train to scare the bear away as the train horn was broken.

The press service of the Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel which operates the train track said the driver could be fired.

Policemen who examined the site of the incident said no traces of blood or body of the bear had been found on the track.

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