A polar bear has been shot dead after injuring a guard working for cruise ship tourists visiting an Arctic archipelago in Norway.

The bear was shot dead by another employee, the cruise company said after the incident on Saturday.

The Joint Rescue Coordination for Northern Norway said on Twitter that the attack had occurred when tourists from the cruise ship MS Bremen landed on the northernmost island of the Svalbard archipelago, a region between mainland Norway and the North Pole known for its glaciers, reindeer and polar bears.

A spokeswoman for the German Hapag Lloyd Cruises company, which operates the MS Bremen, said that two polar bear guards from their ship went on the island and one of them “was attacked by a polar bear and injured on his head”.

The polar bear was then shot dead “in an act of self-defence” by the second guard, Negar Etminan said.

Pictures of the polar bear were widely circulated online, sparking criticism of Arctic wildlife tourism, including from the comedian Ricky Gervais, who tweeted:

"Let's get too close to a polar bear in its natural environment and then kill it if it gets too close". Morons. https://t.co/FEPt0sYOtF — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 29, 2018

Polar bear killed for acting like a wild animal: https://t.co/LEzZuIQ4vY — Extinction Symbol (@extinctsymbol) July 28, 2018

The injured man was taken by helicopter to the town of Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen island. “He was flown out, was responsive, and is currently undergoing medical treatment,” Etminan said, adding that he was not in a life-threatening condition.

All cruise ships sailing in the region were obliged to have polar bear guards aboard, Etminan said.

Arctic tourism has risen sharply in the last few years and it is now the high season. A Longyearbyen port schedule showed that 18 cruise ships would be docking in the next week.