A Westport teenager was among a group of seven who were attacked by a brown bear while learning survival skills in the Alaska wilderness Saturday night.
Samuel Boas, 16, of Morningside Drive South was training with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Palmer, Alaska, with six other teens, aged 16-18, when they were attacked by a brown bear with cub at about 8:30 p.m., Alaska time.
Boas was not injured in the attack — however two other teenagers in his group suffered "serious, life threatening injuries," according to a press release from Megan Peters, a spokesperson for the Alaska State Troopers and Department of Public Safety.
Two other teens in the group were seriously injured but sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Three others suffered "minor injuries or had exposure-related issues," the release said.
The other teens in the group were not from Connecticut.
In a phone interview this morning Carol Boas, Sam’s mother, said she was relieved that her son walked away “without a scratch,” but expressed concern for the welfare of the other teens, especially the two who are seriously injured.
“They were pretty bad,” she said of their condition.
“The fact that they were able to survive and get out of there was due to the survival training they learned through NOLS,” she said, adding, however, that there’s “never been a bear attack” in the organization’s 40-year history, as far as she knows.
Boas said her son, a student at Staples High School who also served on Westport EMS, administered first aid to the victims following the attack.
“It was because of the training my son got with Westport EMS that he was able to help save those victims,” she said.
As Boas explained, the group of teens had been on the wilderness expedition under adult supervision since June 30. “But during the last part of the trips they let the teens put their training to work and they let them spend the last 4 to 5 days on their own, with no adults,” she said.
“They had an emergency locater that they were only supposed to activate in the event of an emergency — which they did,” she said. “However they had to wait quite a while before the Alaska State Paratroopers were able to find them and get them out of there. As you know it’s pretty rough wilderness in that part of the state."
According to a report in Alaska Dispatch, a Fairbanks-based search and rescue helicopter was dispatched to locate the exact point from which the beacon was transmitting at about 9:30 p.m., Saturday. By 2:45 a.m. Sunday, rescuers had found the teens in a tent.
Boas said Sam “refused to leave” with the first transport, opting instead to stay behind and treat the other victims until the next helicopter could arrive.
“Because of his training with Westport EMS, he decided to stay there with the trooper and continue to administer first aid,” she said, adding that the trooper was not trained to deliver the same degree of emergency care.
Boas said Sam and the six other teens were hiking on a trail and coming down a ridge when suddenly the brown bear attacked — starting first with the two who were at the head of the line.
The first helicopter transported the two most badly injured victims — however the other victims had to wait another four hours for the next helicopter to come in.
The other teenagers were identified as Noah Allaine, 16, Albuquerque, N.M.; Shane Garlock, 16, Pittsford, N.Y.; Joshua Berg, 17, New York, N.Y.; Samuel Gottsegen, 17, Denver, Colo.; Simeon Melman, Huntington, N.Y.; and Victor Martin, 18, Richmond, Calif.
(Westport Patch will be following up on this story as more information becomes available.)
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