Polar bear attack hero facing third operation

ONE of the leaders of the Arctic expedition in which a British teenager was mauled to death by a polar bear is to undergo a third operation today on his injuries.

Michael "Spike" Reid, 29, shot dead the bear that attacked the students on a Norwegian island 12 days ago.

The bear had killed Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple, 17, and wounded four other people, including two teenagers.

Mr Reid is in a stable condition in Derriford Hospital in his home city of Plymouth, Devon. Yesterday he said he was to undergo surgery to repair head injuries suffered in the attack.

Writing on the microblogging site Twitter, he said: "Another day, another operation. I'm now going into my 3rd. Please cross your fingers for me."

He has previously tweeted about having surgery to repair a broken jaw, fractured skull and eye-socket damage, writing that he had been left unable to breathe or talk through his mouth, or eat, by his injuries.

The teenagers were in a group travelling on a British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) expedition, which was camping on the Von Postbreen glacier, near Longyearbyen, on Svalbard.

Mr Reid shot the bear in the head, ending the attack on 5 August, but not before it had killed Horatio and injured Patrick Flinders, from Jersey, and Scott Bennell-Smith from Cornwall, who were sharing his tent.

Mr Reid and 27-year-old fellow expedition leader Andy Ruck, who had studied at Aberdeen University before moving to Edinburgh, were also badly mauled.

The parents of Horatio, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, who was an aspiring medical student, praised his "amazing sense of humour and ability to laugh at himself".

BSES ended the 3,000-per-head expedition on the advice of the Svalbard authorities and in accordance with the wishes of the group leaders, and all have returned home.

An independent investigation has been launched into the attack, and the organisers vowed to "leave no stone unturned".