A polar bear attacked and killed a woman and a boy in a remote western Alaska village, state troopers said on Wednesday.
They received the report of the attack around 2.30pm on Tuesday in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula.
The bear was killed by a local resident, reports said.
“Initial reports indicated that a polar bear had entered the community and had chased multiple residents,” the troopers said in a statement.
“The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male.”
The Alaska State Troopers noted that the polar bear was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the pair.
Austin McDaniel, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, said the state troopers were coordinating with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as they tried to send personnel to Wales as soon as the weather allowed, KTUU-TV reported.
Authorities did not release the names and identities of those killed in the bear attack.
The state troopers said that were in the process of notifying the family members.
It was not clear at the moment whether the woman and the boy were related to each other.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, fatal polar bear attacks are extremely rare in Alaska. In 1990, a polar bear killed a man in the North Slope village of Point Lay. Later it was established that the bear was starving. Polar bear males can grow to be up to 1,200 pounds, and females up to 700 pounds.
