A polar bear attacked a group of tourists on Friday, killing one person and seriously injuring four, in the Norwegian Arctic island group of Svalbard, an official said, according to Reuters. "We know it was a British group," said Liv Asta Oedegaard, spokeswoman for the Svalbard governor's office. "Five people were injured, and one of those has died." But she said she could not confirm the nationality of the person killed or the size of the group. The visitors were attacked at the edge of the Von Post Glacier some 40 km (25 miles) east of Svalbard's main town, Longyearbyen, on the central island of Spitsbergen. A renowned polar bear habitat, Svalbard is about halfway between Norway's mainland and the North Pole. The injured were taken by helicopter to a hospital in Longyearbyen after authorities were notified of the attack by satellite telephone at 0534 GMT, Oedegaard said. The bear was killed. The governor's office said it had no additional information about the people attacked or the nature of their visit to Svalbard.
