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A polar bear attacked a campsite in Norway’s remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, injuring a French tourist, authorities said.
The woman, unidentified, was part of a 25-person tour group that was camping in Svesletta in central Svalbard, more than 500 miles north of mainland Norway.
The campsite is located across the fjord from Longyearbyen, the main settlement of Svalbard.
Authorities responded to news of the attack by flying out in a helicopter, according to Chief Superintendent Stein Olav Bredli.
“The French woman had an arm injury. Someone shot the polar bear and the polar bear was scared away,” he said.
Authorities said the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening, but gave no further details. She was taken to hospital in Longyearbyen by helicopter.
Svalbardposten, the main newspaper in the Arctic archipelago, said the victim was a woman in her 40s, citing local hospital official Solveig Jacobsen as saying she suffered minor injuries.
Mr Bredil later told Svalbardposten that the animal was “severely injured” and that it was put down after a “professional assessment”. It is unclear how it was killed.
Svalbard is full of warnings about polar bears. Visitors who choose to sleep outdoors will be warned by authorities that people must carry guns.
At least five people have been killed by polar bears since the 1970s, most recently in 2020 when a 38-year-old Dutch man was killed.
An estimated 20,000-25,000 polar bears live in the Arctic.
In 2015, a polar bear dragged a Czech tourist from his tent while camping north of Longyearbyen and grabbed him by the back before being shot away.
The bear was later found and killed by authorities.
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