Russian scientists trapped in Arctic by polar bears face month-long wait for rescue

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 Guardian reports, citing the news agency TASS .

A female bear had taken to spending nights beneath the station’s windows, and one of the two resident dogs was killed on 31 August.

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.

Troynoy is the largest island in the Izvestiy Tsik archipelago, and is only 27km in length.

Vassiliy Shevchenko, the head of the Sevgidromet state monitoring network that owns the station, told TASS on Tuesday that staff would be sent dogs for protection and flares via the Mikhail Somov expedition vessel.

That was due to reach the station in “about a month”, he said, though the possibility of sending flares earlier was under consideration.

In the meantime, personnel had been advised to “use extreme caution” and to remain inside the station in all but the most serious circumstances.

Meteorological work that required going out to observation sites had also been abandoned.