LI teen part of group attacked by bear

A Huntington teen was among a group of youths rescued Sunday after they were attacked by a mother grizzly bear during a survival skills course in Alaska's remote wilderness.

Two in the group were badly mauled, state troopers told The Associated Press.

Simeon Melman, 17, of Huntington, was one of seven students participating in a 30-day backcountry course by the National Outdoor Leadership School.

"He's OK," said a man who answered the phone at the family's home and identified himself as Simeon's father. "He's fine."

The teens told troopers that the bear, who was with her cub, attacked at 8:30 p.m. Saturday as they were lined up in front of each other for a river crossing. Those in the back of the line heard someone scream about a bear, as the two at the front of the line took the brunt of the attack, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

The two teens injured the worst by bear bites were from New City, in Rockland County, and Denver, and were listed in serious condition at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage.

The other five also were injured, Peters told the Anchorage Daily News.

The group was in the 24th day of the course. There was no instructor with them because that far into the course, they've learned enough survival skills, said Bruce Palmer, a spokesman for the school, which is based in Lander, Wyo.

"Our basic goal is that when a student graduates from the NOLS course, they have the experience and background to be able to take other people out into the backcountry," he told the AP. "We're training people to be outdoor leaders, basically." Calling out to warn bears is among the skills learned in the course.

"The students say they were" doing that, Palmer said.After the attack, the teens applied first aid to each other, set up camp and activated a personal locator beacon they carried in case of emergency, Peters said.

The Rescue Coordination Center operated by the Alaska Air National Guard called troopers around 9:30 p.m. to report the activated locator signal. A trooper and pilot in a helicopter located the students in a tent shortly before 3 a.m.

, but decided the two most seriously injured couldn't safely be flown in the helicopter, but would need a medical transport aircraft with a medically trained crew.

They called the rescue center for help and the helicopter pilot flew four of the teens to the Talkeetna airport. From there, they driven by ambulance to the Palmer hospital, where they were checked.

The trooper and another student stayed with the badly injured teens for four hours until more rescuers arrived in a specially equipped helicopter, which flew them to the Anchorage hospital, Peters said. The uninjured student who remained is 16-year-old Samuel Boas of Westport, Conn. Palmer said Boas has training as an emergency medical technician.