Igor Vorozhbitsyn had his life saved by a Justin Bieber ringtone, when his mobile phone went off during a potentially fatal attack by a brown bear.

The 42-year-old was pounced on as he was walking to a favourite fishing spot in northern Russia’s Yakutia Republic and firmly believed that he was going to be killed.

But as the bear began to claw at him, Igor’s mobile went off. The singer’s hit Baby rang out and the bear turned tail and fled back into the forest.

Wildlife experts believe the ringtone must have startled the bear into halting its attack.

’Sometimes a sharp sho‌ck can stop an angry bear in its tracks and that ringtone would be a very unexpected sound for a bear,’ explained one. 

Dangerous: Brown bears are easily capable of killing humans, but as the incident with Mr Vorozhbitsyn showed, can easily be frightened away

Bear-ly believable: Justin Bieber’s music isn’t very popular with brown bears, it seems

Mr Vorozhbitsyn suffered from cuts and severe bruises to his face and chest and was rescued when he was found by other fishermen after using the phone to call for help.

Mr Vorozhbitsyn - now recovering from his mauling - explained: ’I had parked my car and was walking towards the spot I’d marked out when there was a tremendous impact on my back and the bear was on top of me.’

’I couldn’t believe my luck when the phone went off and he fled.

’I know that sort of ringtone isn’t to everyone’s taste but my granddaughter loaded it onto my phone for a joke,’ he added.

Adult brown bears can weigh as much as 600kg and have been known to kill wolves and even Siberian tigers in confrontations.