Richmond Teen Among 4 Injured In Alaska Grizzly Attack
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CBS SF) - A Richmond teenager who was among a group of outdoor leadership students attacked by a bear in the Alaska on Saturday was scheduled to return home to the Bay Area Monday.
Victor Martin, 18, was treated for a bite wound above his ankle at an Alaska hospital and later released.
The attack happened about 8:30 p.m. Saturday as a group of seven students in the National Outdoor Leadership School's Alaska Backpacking Course were crossing a river in a remote wilderness area, Alaska Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
KCBS' Chris Filippi Reports:
The seven teenagers were on the 24th day of a 30-day course and on their first day of their student expedition, in which students hike the remaining days of their course without instructors, according to the school.
The teens were lined up single file to cross a stream when students at the back of the line heard group members at the front of the line scream that there was a bear.
The two teens at the front of the line suffered the brunt of the attack, Peters said.
School spokeswoman Jeanne O'Brien said the students had been calling out to warn wildlife of their approach as they were trained to do, but, possibly because of the noise from the stream, they startled the bear as they came around a bend.
Once the attack was over, the group managed to set up camp and administer first aid to each other, Peters said. O'Brien said that part of their training included emergency wilderness first aid.
The group activated their Personal Locator Beacon, which notifies rescuers of an emergency and transmits GPS coordinates, around 9:30 p.m., about an hour after the attack, Peters said.
"These kids did an excellent job. They came together and were able to set up camp, take care of each other as best they could, call for help and hunker down until help arrived," Peters said.
"They probably did better than most adults would do in a situation like this," she added.
A helicopter was launched from Fairbanks to investigate the nature of the emergency.
The helicopter crew reached the teens at 2:45 a.m., and they found two students with what appeared to be life-threatening injuries and two others with serious but not life-threatening injuries. The other three students had minor injuries or exposure-related problems, Peters said.
The helicopter crew decided that the two most severely injured students could not be safely transported in that helicopter, and required a medical helicopter with trained medical technicians instead.
A trooper remained at the scene with those two students and the least injured student, while the other four students were flown out.
They landed at the Talkeetna Airport, where they were transported by ambulance to Mat-Su Regional Hospital in Palmer, Peters said.
A medical helicopter arrived at the camp about four hours later and transported the three remaining students and the trooper to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, according to Peters.
Three of the injured teens remained hospitalized Monday, O'Brien said. They include Joshua Berg, 17, of New City, N.Y.; Noah Allaine, 16, of Albuquerque, N.M.; Samuel Gottsegen, 17, of Denver, Colo., O'Brien said.
Martin was treated for the bite wound above his ankle and released.
The remaining three students, Samuel Boas, 16, of Westport, Conn.; Simeon Melman, 17, of Huntington, N.Y.; and Shane Garlock, 16, of Pittsford, N.Y., were not admitted to the hospital, O'Brien said.
During the rescue, state troopers were also notified that a second group of seven NOLS students and three instructors were still in the field near where the attack happened and did not know about it.
Troopers flew over the area in a fixed-wing aircraft until they found the group and safely brought them out of the wilderness, Peters said.
Two instructors then returned to the first group's camp and picked up the students' personal belongings and the beacon, which was still transmitting an emergency signal, Peters said.
Although state troopers did not see the bear or her cub, they believe it was most likely a brown bear, based on the location and descriptions from the students, Peters said.
She said there are a handful of bear attacks every year in Alaska.
"It's not like bears are uncommon in Alaska. I had a black bear wandering through my yard last night," Peters said.
She said it is unlikely that the Department of Fish and Game would attempt to track down the bear, since it appears that it was in its own territory when the students came upon it.
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