Paper clip failure in boy’s mauling by polar bear
The death of a 17-year-old British schoolboy mauled by a polar bear in Norway could have been avoided if paperclips had not been used to repair a trip wire intended to alert his group to approaching animals, an independent inquiry has found.
The UK’s Daily Telegraph said the conclusions of a just-released enquiry found a series of failings led to the incident.
The Eton schoolboy was attacked by the 39-stone bear, which entered the expedition’s campsite on the Norwegian Arctic island of Svalbard in August 2011.
Four others in the party were injured in the attack.
The group was using trip wires to warn of approaching bears while sleeping. These were designed to set off explosive charges that would scare off the animals and alert the expedition.
However, the enquiry found paperclips had been used as a substitute for plates, which he said made it difficult to establish the trip wire.
In the full report, former High Court Judge Sir David Steel said the starving polar bear’s intrusion was a "remote possibility but not unforeseeable".
Ian Jarrett
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