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28 March 2024

Polar bear kills Brit teen

Published
By Staff

A British teenager was killed in a polar bear attacked a remote camp in northern Norway.

According to The Sun, Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple, 17, of Salisbury, Wilts, died after the beast clawed its way into his tent as he slept.

Four other young people on a British Schools Exploring Society expedition were injured in the attack on Spitsbergen island. The bear was shot dead by a trip leader.

It was also reported that schoolboy Patrick Flinders saved himself by punching the creature on the nose.

Brave Patrick lashed out after the bear pounced on a tent where three teenagers were sleeping in the glacial region of northern Norway yesterday.

But he was unable to prevent it mauling to death tragic Horatio.

There are 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in 19 populations across the Arctic, with the animal found in Canada, Greenland, the US state of Alaska, Norway and Russia.

The males typically weigh up to 1,200lb (550kg), and are up to 12ft long, with females around half their size. The animals, whose huge paws act like snow shoes on the ice, roam over wide areas and can swim long distances.

They have an acute sense of smell which can enable them to pick up the scent of a seal - their main prey - miles away.