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Norway Arctic expedition suspended due to polar bear attack
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CNTV, August 8, 2011
A polar bear has attacked a group of British students camping on a remote glacier in the Arctic killing one teenager and injuring four others. The campers were on a high-end adventure holiday organized by the British Schools Exploring Society which has decided to quit after the tragedy.
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People pull the remains of a 250kg male polar bear away from the scene after it was shot by a member of a group of British campers on the central island of Spitsbergen in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic August 5, 2011. The polar bear attacked the group on Friday, killing a 17-year-old boy and seriously injuring four people. |
Organizers of the arctic expedition in Norway say the dead teenager was named Horatio Chapple, 17-years old.
The four injured youngsters have undergone surgery and are expected to return home to the UK soon.
The organizers from the British Schools Exploring Society or BSES say the expedition will not continue.
BSES chairman Edward Watson said, "Both on the advice of the Svalbard authorities and taking account of the group wishes of our leaders, BSES has made the decision to end this expedition. Police, local authorities, group leaders and BSES feel it would be wrong to continue their expedition, in light of the tragic incidents at Svalbard yesterday morning."
The campers were in a group of 80 people, most of them between 16 and 23.
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A dead polar bear is seen after it was shot by a member of a group of British campers, whom the bear attacked on the central island of Spitsbergen in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, in this still image taken from mobile phone video footage shot August 5, 2011. |
The attack took place when some of group were camping on Spitsbergen archipelago, home to more than 2,000 people and 3,000 polar bears.
The area attracts tourists with stunning views of snow-covered mountains, fjords and glaciers.
But it is also a place, which researchers say, doesn't have much food available for polar bears during the summer.
Polar explorer Ben Saunders said, "The danger for people travelling in the natural habitat of the bear is that they could also be seen as prey. It's very rare. There have been in Svalbard, which has a big human population and a big polar population, there have been I think five attacks since the 1970s."
The BSES is affiliated with Britain's Royal Geographic Society and has run expeditions for young people to remote and challenging corners of the globe for at least 75 years.
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