Tourist survives polar bear attack while camping in Arctic to watch solar eclipse

 
Bear attack: Jakub Moravec (left) and the bear that attacked him (Pictures: Getty and Reuters)
Tom Marshall20 March 2015

A tourist had a lucky escape after surviving an attack by a polar bear while camping on a remote Arctic island to catch the solar eclipse.

Jakub Moravec was sleeping in a tent last night when the bear dragged him out and began clawing at his back.

He was saved when his fellow campers began shooting at the bear and drove it away.

The animal was later hunted down and killed by local police.

Force of nature: The remains of the bear (Picture: Getty)

Speaking from his hospital bed, the 37-year-old from Prague, Czech Republic, said: “We were sleeping in the tent, and when I woke up the polar bear was standing on top of me.

“It went straight for my head. Luckily my colleague shot it.”

Mr Moravec suffered only minor injuries and no-one else was hurt.

He was part of a group of six who were camping out in the Svalbard archipelago, more than 500 miles north of the Norwegian mainland, on the eve of the eclipse.

Carcass: An official walks towards the dead polar bear after it was caught and killed

Zuzana Hakova, a member of the group sleeping in a different tent, told local newspaper Svalbardposten that her mother shot three times at the bear with a hand gun, prompting the animal to flee.

To Aksel Bilicz, manager of the Longyearbyen hospital, where Mr Moravec is being treated, said the incident was a reminder of the dangers of the Arctic.

"I think there's been a tendency, even before the eclipse, that a lot of people come here and they don't know where they're going," he said.

"Both the weather conditions and the bears can be very dangerous."

Lodging on Svalbard has been sold out for years ahead of the eclipse.

Visitors who choose to sleep outdoors receive stern warnings from authorities that people must carry firearms while moving outside of settlements.

Mr Moravec said the bear attack had not turned him off the beauties of the Arctic.

"I'd gladly go out to the mountains on Svalbard again," he was quoted as saying by Svalbardposten.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in