A Frozen Town in Norway Bans Residents from Dying on the Island to Prevent a Dangerous Disease from Undecomposed Corpses.
Longyearbyen is a town with 2,000 residents primarily engaged in coal mining in the remote Svalbard archipelago of Norway, according to Sun. It is the northernmost town in the world and remains perpetually frozen, with an average temperature of -17 degrees Celsius in February.
Longyearbyen is the northernmost town. (Video: YouTube).
The town’s government issued a ban on dying on the island in 1950 after discovering that corpses buried in the permafrost beneath the local cemetery did not decompose due to the extremely cold weather, according to Half as Interesting.
This phenomenon poses a serious public health risk as 11 deceased individuals buried in the town during the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 claimed 5% of the world’s population.
Corpses buried beneath the cemetery of Longyearbyen remain undecomposed. (Photo: AFP).
Today, severely ill individuals in Longyearbyen are transported to the mainland to spend their final days and are buried there. Samples of the Spanish flu virus have been taken from some corpses on the island for researchers to study in order to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.
According to regulations, residents of the town must carry a rifle when venturing outside the designated area, as the surrounding region is home to 3,000 polar bears. Cats are prohibited in the town to protect the Arctic bird populations. The sun sets on October 25 each year and does not rise above the horizon for the following four months.
