It was almost like a scene out of a movie as a man dropped everything and jumped onto a snowmobile to escape a charging polar bear in Norway.
Dramatic video footage captured by Rebecca Baack, who was staying at a hotel in the Arctic town of Pyramiden on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard for a ski expedition, shows the man firing a gun at the polar bear. In response, the wild animal charges at him, prompting him to drop his rifle and run. The man then hops onto a snowmobile and zooms away as the polar bear continues to chase him before eventually giving up and sitting down.
People can be heard lauding the man's courage in the video, with one exclaiming: "Damn, very brave guy."
Baack told USA TODAY April 29 that she was "terrified" for the man as she watched the incident, which occurred around midnight on April 27, unfold in front of her eyes.
"It was a huge relief to see him escape," Baack said. "I wish he had had backup but thank goodness he left his snowmobile running and pointed in the right direction."
Baack said she believes the man worked for the hotel and was trying to scare away the carnivore with a flare gun but the gun "unfortunately banged behind the bear, driving him in the wrong direction."
The man later got into a pickup truck for more protection, Baack said, while the polar bear went under the hotel, which is on stilts.
However, the bear didn't leave until he ate all the snacks he got from one of the snowmobiles, even though hotel employees kept trying to scare him away using truck horns.
"Once he finished, he left town and went back out in the direction of the sea ice," Baack said.
She added that the "hotel did a great job keeping about 100 drunk tourists safe inside, which was no small task."
Polar bears, also known as the King of the Arctic, are not uncommon in the Svalbard archipelago and Barents Sea, according to tourism agency Visit Svalbard. The agency estimates their population to be around 3,000, which exceeds the human population. While polar bears are considered a marine mammal and spend most of their life on drifting sea ice, Visit Svalbard advises visitors to be prepared to encounter a polar bear anywhere in Svalbard.
"Polar bears attack extremely quickly without warning," the agency said. "Be accompanied by a local guide with a firearm when leaving the settlements."
It not immediately known if the man in the encounter was a tourist or local, and what happened to him and the polar bear after.
Svalbard is about a three-hour flight from Oslo.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.