TOKYO, July 2 — Five people needed hospital treatment in Japan after a man accidentally set off an anti-bear spray in a city-centre post office, reports and officials said, as the country grapples with a sharp rise in maulings.

A foreign national, who was not named, apologised and told police that he discharged the repellent unintentionally, the reports said.

“Eight people felt sick, and of those five were sent to hospital. But there was no report of serious injuries or illness,” fire department official Ryohei Asano told AFP after the mishap on Wednesday in the central city of Nagoya.

At least five people have been killed by bears in Japan since April 1 after a record 13 deaths last fiscal year.

This week, authorities said they were investigating a sixth possible fatality after a man’s body with bite marks was found in a mountainous area in the north.

Environment ministry data dating back to the year to March 2018 shows that this year is the first to see more than two deaths in the period from April to June.

Scientists attribute the sharp rise in incidents to an increase in the animals’ population and a declining number of people in rural areas.

The animals are also encroaching increasingly into towns and cities.

In June, dozens of police, hunters and city officials needed four days to trap a bear roaming Utsunomiya north of Tokyo, forcing mass school closures. — AFP