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Polar bear in Alaska (icon image)
Photo: Morales / IMAGO
A polar bear attacked and killed two people in western Alaska.
According to initial reports, the animal initially chased several people in Wales and then fatally injured a woman and a youth, police said on Tuesday.
A local resident shot the bear during the attack.
Further details are not yet known.
Officials from the police and authorities wanted to travel to the area on the west coast of the US state "as soon as the weather conditions permit," it said.
Expresses rare occurrence
According to the Anchorage Daily News, such attacks are extremely rare in Alaska.
In 1990, a polar bear killed a man in the town of Point Lay, about 500 kilometers north of Wales.
In 1993, an animal broke through a window into an Air Force radar station, seriously injuring a 55-year-old.
Due to the melting sea ice in the course of the climate crisis, the animals are increasingly staying on the mainland, making encounters with humans more likely.
lmd/dpa
