Polar bear death: paperclips used to repair trip wire
The death of a British schoolboy mauled by a polar bear could have been avoided if paperclips had not been used to repair a trip wire intended to alert the group to approaching animals.
The Daily Telegraph said the conclusions of an independent inquiry found a series of failings led to the incident.
Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple , 17, was attacked by the 39-stone bear, which entered his 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".
An inquest into the boy’s death will be held next week.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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