The Latest: Students airlifted amid fears of bear’s return
JUNEAU, Alaska – The Latest on the mauling of a university professor in Alaska (all times local):
5 p.m.
University officials decided to evacuate students off a mountain after a brown bear attacked their teacher and amid fears the animal had returned.
Officials say students reported hearing a bear within 200 yards of the helicopter that was taking their badly injured assistant professor, Forest Wagner, off the mountain.
Officials haven’t been able to confirm a bear was in the area, but a state trooper hiked in to provide security as the group was taken off the mountain.
The details are among few to emerge since Wagner was mauled as he led the mountaineering class outing in the wilderness near Haines, a remote town about 90 miles north of Juneau.
Wagner is a 35-year-old University of Alaska Southeast assistant professor. He is recovering at an Anchorage hospital and has declined interview requests.
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