[ad_1]
A polar bear was shot after attacking a German liner during a tourist expedition in the Arctic Ocean
a man in his 40s who was injured at the head shortly after landing on the island of Spitzbergen, in the Norwegian archipelago. 19659003] He accompanied on Saturday a tourist expedition of the MS Bremen of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
"The bear was killed by another employee on the boat," Ole Police Commissioner Ole told AFP Jakob Malmo
. "We greatly regret this incident," said company spokesman Moritz Krause,
. The injured employee was transported by helicopter to the local capital, Longyearbyen, and then to Tromso, on the mainland. Mr. Tromso told AFP that the life of man was not in danger and that he was in a stable state.
Hapag-Lloyd Cruises stated that it obtained permission from local authorities to dock. 19659010] "The observations are only possible in a few places (in the archipelago)," said Mr. Krause, in remarks confirmed by Malmö.
Usually "as soon as an animal approaches, landing will stop immediately," Krause added. The company said that excursions of this nature required personnel to check the areas before landing and protect people from the attacks of polar bears.
Polar bears have been protected in Norway since 1973 and nearly 1000 have been recorded in Svalbard.
The archipelago, about twice the size of Belgium, is about 1000 kilometers from the North Pole.
Five deadly polar bear attacks have been recorded on Svalbard over the past 40 years.
The most recent was in 2011 when a bear attacked a group of 14 people on a trip organized by a British school badociation.
A 17-year-old Briton died and four other members of the expedition were wounded before the death of the bear.
Source link
