A polar bear has killed a British man and injured four others in an attack on a group of campers in a remote Arctic region of Norway.

All the victims were male, said Liv Asta Oedegaard, a spokeswoman for the Svalbard governor’s office.

She said the attack occurred this morning in the Svalbard archipelago and the injured were taken to the hospital in the Svalbard capital Longyearbyen, about 25 miles (40 kms) away.

Polar bear attacks are not unusual in the Svalbards, which attract well-off and hardy tourists with wilderness scenery and abandoned Soviet mining communities.

Visitors are urged to carry high-powered rifles whenever venturing outside Longyearbyen.

All five victims were part of a British Schools Exploring Society expedition.