Gold digger walks out of taiga with frostbite after two weeks lost amidst bears and tigers

The father from Zeya had vanished into the wild near his workplace at Beregovoy village on 29 August, and rescuers later found his abandoned truck, its fuel tank full, and his glasses inside.

He was discovered alive some two weeks later after walking out of the taiga alone on a remote highway after searchers had failed to locate him. The areas is full of both brown and black bears, along with wolves. 

It is also in the territory inhabited by endangered Amur tigers. 

It remains a mystery why he disappeared and how he survived.  

Kovalev, who worked as a gold digger and a driver, was taken to hospital in a state of 'stress'.

Daughter Tatiana said: 'Dad is not saying yet how he survived in the taiga.

'We're happy that he managed to get out of the taiga, that he's safe and sound. Of course, he is stressed but he's in satisfactiory state.'

He has frostbite on his legs, she said. 

Zeya is a town some 532 kilometres north of regional capital Blagoveshchensk.