Survivor of polar bear attack tells of fight for life

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy mauled in a fatal polar bear attack in the Norwegian Arctic told of his ordeal for the first time, saying he thought he was going to die as the beast chewed his head.

Patrick Flinders was left disfigured in the August 5 attack on the island of Spitsbergen, in which a massive 250-kilogramme male polar bear entered the camp site of 13 young Britons who were on a five-week expedition.

He punched the polar bear in the head as he fought for his life and was left with fragments of its teeth lodged in his skull as its jaws clamped down.