Russian scientists reportedly besieged by polar bears on a tiny island in the Arctic ocean may face more than a month’s wait for help to arrive. Five scientists based at a weather station on Troynoy island, in the Kara sea north of Siberia, have been encircled by 10 adult bears and some cubs for nearly two weeks, the Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday. But the five personnel – two married couples among them – of the Polyarnaya Stantsiya station have run out of flares with which to deter the predators. Polar bears losing weight as Arctic sea ice melts, Canadian study finds Read moreMeteorological work that required going out to observation sites had also been abandoned. In August last year, the three occupants of a weather station on the remote island of Vaygach in the Siberian Arctic spoke of living in close quarters with “aggressive” bears.

Source: The Guardian September 14, 2016 05:03 UTC