Russian Meteorologists Are Trapped By Polar Bears 2,800 Miles From Moscow

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russian-meteorologists-are-trapped-polar-bears-2-800-miles-moscow-n647366

MOSCOW — Sometimes you can't get out of the office because your email inbox is overflowing. Sometimes it's because there's a pack of deadly polar bears outside the door.

Five meteorologists posted on a remote Russian island have been trapped for nearly two weeks by polar bears who've swarmed the area.

Their weather station is on one of the Izvestiy TSIK Islands in the high Arctic — 2,800 miles from Moscow and closer to northern Canada than the Russian capital.

snip

While the meteorologists are not currently in immediate danger, the weather bureau in Arkhangelsk — itself around 1,200 miles south of the islands and a week away by boat — is planning on sending a ship with more flares and devices that cause small explosions to scare away the animals.

The meteorologists work in one-year shifts, receiving supplies from the occasional ship that passes in their direction.