Polar bear kills man in Norway's Arctic Svalbard islands

                

    

A polar bear has killed a man in Norway's Arctic Spitsbergen island, local officials say.

The attack occurred at a campsite near Longyearbyen, the main town of the island in the Svalbard archipelago. The bear was then shot and found dead at the local airport. Experts say polar bears' hunting grounds have diminished as the Arctic ice sheet melts because of climate change, forcing them into populated areas as they try to find food. The man, identified as 38-year-old Dutch citizen Johan Jacobus Knotted, was attacked in his tent before dawn on Friday and died shortly afterwards of his injuries. Svalbard officials say there were seven people on the site at the time and they are being looked after by health services. Campsite owner Michelle van Dijk said the man who died had been in his second season as manager; "He had done the right training and knew how everything worked there," she told Dutch public broadcaster NOS.There had been a warning on Thursday of a polar bear roaming around Longyearbyen, she said. "He said the situation was under control."