Polar Bear Kills Tourist in Norway

A British tourist is dead and four people are seriously injured after a polar bear attacked them today in Norway. The five were part of a group of campers in the Arctic Archipelago of Svalbard, according to a district governor's spokesperson. The group reported the mauling via satellite phone at 7:30am, and "there are no roads in the area of the Von Postbreen glacier where the incident happened so we scrambled a helicopter," the spokesperson says. The bear has been killed and the four victims are at a hospital, the Telegraph reports.

The Guardian notes that the group was visiting a "beauty spot" on Spitsbergen, a remote island. "It's not been the first time," says a local of the attack. "Last summer a man was attacked by a polar bear and there have also been attacks on a man from Austria and a girl. ... 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." (More Norway stories.)