Polar Bear Incident in Norway

5th August 2011

In the early hours of this morning (Friday, 5th August), a polar bear attacked a British group travelling in Spitsbergen, killing one person and seriously injuring four others.

While Exodus is devastated to hear about the tragedy in the Svalbard district of Norway, we would like to take this opportunity to reassure family and friends of people currently travelling with us in Spitsbergen that this incident is in no way connected to an Exodus trip. All 28 passengers on board the expedition vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov (a ship operated by our sister company Quark Expeditions), are safe and well.

Exodus has been operating tours to Svalbard for more than 5 years in partnership with Quark Expeditions. We take our responsibilities seriously and take the highest precautions when it comes to the safety of our passengers and crew.

All of our guides follow standard procedures for polar bear safety on shore, which include: all passengers undertaking zodiac expeditions and landings are accompanied by a trained firearm specialist, landings do not take place if there is a polar bear in sight, passengers travel as part of a group at all times and each group is accompanied by experts trained in wildlife and polar bear behaviour. In our history of operating these trips with Quark Expeditions, we have a 100% safety record with no injuries or fatalities resulting from Polar bear attacks.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to those affected by this morning’s tragic incident.

Peter Burrell
Managing Director, Exodus Travels Ltd