Four others injured in attack at Von Postbreen glacier on remote island of Spitsbergen.
A polar bear has mauled to death a British citizen in Norway, according to reports.
A Briton has reportedly been mauled to death by a polar bear that injured four others in a tour group at a Norwegian beauty spot.
The tourists killed the bear at the Von Postbreen glacier on the remote island of Spitsbergen, according to reports by Norwegian news agency NTB and other outlets.
A spokeswoman for the Svalbard district governor's office, said: "One person has died and four others are injured. Their injuries are serious."
She said the five were travelling with a "British group" but could not give specific details about their nationalities.
The district governor's office issued a statement saying the authorities had received news of the attack at 7.30am on Friday. "The four injured people are now at the Longyearbyen hospital. An ambulance is now scheduled to fly the patients to the hospital in Tromsoe."
Liv Rose Flygel, 55, an artist and airport worker who lives near the hospital, said: "It's not been the first time. Last summer a man was attacked by a polar bear and there have also been attacks on a man from Austria and a girl. Only the man in the attack last summer survived. He was taken in the mouth of the bear and his friend ran after it and shot it.
"The problem is when the ice goes the bears lose their way and cannot catch food. People don't really how dangerous they are; one came down to the sea recently and people were running down to take pictures."
Sandra Swresser, a restaurant manager at Kroa bar in Svalbard, said: "It's very sad. We have had attacks before, it happened a year ago when a Norwegian man was attacked. As it was early in the morning I can only suppose the bear attacked them because it was looking for food."
A spokesman for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "Our embassy in Oslo is urgently looking into reports of an incident in northern Norway."
No comments:
Post a Comment