Authorities said that a polar bear attacked a campground in Norway’s remote Arctic Svalbard Islands on Monday, wounding a French visitor but not seriously.
The lady, who was not named, was a member of a tour group of 25 people who were camping in Sveasletta in the middle of the Svalbard archipelago, which is located around 600 miles from the North Pole and more than 500 miles north of the Norwegian mainland.
The largest town in the Arctic Svalbard archipelago, Longyearbyen, was situated across a fjord from the campground. According to AFP, the region is twice the size of Belgium.
When word of the assault reached authorities just before 8:30 a.m., head superintendent Stein Olav Bredli took a helicopter to the scene.
“The arm of the French lady was hurt. The polar bear was frightened away from the region after being shot at, “says he.
She suffered injuries, but no more information was provided. She was transported by chopper to the Longyearbyen hospital.
The victim, a lady in her 40s, was described as having minor injuries by local hospital official Solveig Jacobsen, according to Svalbardposten, the leading newspaper on the Arctic territory.
According to AFP, the bear was discovered and killed since it was severely injured.
Polar bear warning signs are all around Svalbard. Authorities issue severe cautions to tourists who want to spend the night outside, mandating that they carry guns.
Since the 1970s, polar bears have claimed the lives of at least five individuals. A 38-year-old Dutchman was slain in 2020, which was the most recent instance of it.
In the Arctic, there are 20,000–25,000 polar bears.
A polar bear clawed the back of a Czech visitor who was camped with others north of Longyearbyen in 2015 before being chased away by gunfire. Later, officials located and killed the bear.
According to AFP, the creatures have been a protected species since 1973.