There was a bear in the area. They didn’t know how to use their gun. They didn’t know how to use their flare system.
Killer polar bear near camp where it mauled British teenager to death one week later
Prowling in the vicinity of a number of tents, this hungry polar bear is photographed just a week before it went on a ferocious rampage which left one Eton College-educated teen dead and four other Brits seriously wounded.
The images, taken by a Polish sea captain, were snapped only a few miles away from where Horatio Chapple was killed by the ravenous 39st animal, on Spitsbergen island in Norway.
The captain took the photographs as he was worried that the 14ft beast would attack the camp – similar to the one set up by the British Schools Exploring Society only days later.
Rifle failed four times as bear savaged Eton teenager as leader tried to save him
It is believed that the flare-triggering defence systems in place at the BSES camp were faulty, which allowed the animal to enter the campsite early on Friday morning and being its attack.
Horatio, 17, was ‘ripped to pieces’ by the polar bear according to Patrick Flinders, who was in the tent next to the aspiring doctor when bear attacked.
A poor craftsman blames his tools.
I didn’t read this article. Did they say what happened yet? Bad ammo? Ejected four rounds but the fifth worked?
Panicked leader unable to operate firearm?
They probably put a round back in a took the safety off before pulling the trigger the fifth time! Probably operator error on all counts!
“The Jersey-based 16-year-old suffered a fractured skull after being bitten on his head – he punched the animal in the face during the attack and his father hailed him a hero for ‘fighting for his life’.”
Now you’re a hero for fighting for your OWN life already? Not exactly a miracle that kids who grow up in that kind of “accomplishment based environment” end up feeding the wildlife. Evolution at work, even if dinner had to be shipped in.
Such is the antipathy towards firearms in the UK and so powerful are the laws discouraging ownership, that very few citizens have any experience in handling them, and myths about their potency abound.
It is no wonder that the person charged with deploying the rifle was not, in the heat of the moment, completely competent in it’s operation and unable to hit a bull’s arse with a shovel.
Reports of our police firearms incidents show a simiilar lack of ability, with post incident analyses revealing a woeful lack of accuracy on the part of so called trained marksmen.
Best is they had stayed at home. One live teenager and one live bear to go about it’s normal way.
Instead both are dead.
Absolute nincompoops. As AndyW says, they should have stayed at home and played with polar bear computer models.