Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, has an unusual and often misunderstood rule: dying there is strongly discouraged due to extreme permafrost conditions.
The town lies in the Arctic Circle, where the ground remains permanently frozen (permafrost), making traditional burial unsafe.
When bodies are buried in such frozen conditions, decomposition slows drastically or even halts entirely.
In fact, during a flu epidemic in 1918, bodies were buried in Longyearbyen's cemetery, and decades later, scientists found that the virus strains remained preserved in those corpses—raising public health concerns.
Because of this, Longyearbyen officially stopped allowing burials in 1950.
If someone is terminally ill or close to death, they are typically flown to mainland Norway to pass away. The town does not have the infrastructure to handle death in the usual way, and cremation or mainland burial is required instead.
Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, has an unusual and often misunderstood rule: dying there is strongly discouraged due to extreme permafrost conditions.
The town lies in the Arctic Circle, where the ground remains permanently frozen (permafrost), making traditional burial unsafe.
When bodies are buried in such frozen conditions, decomposition slows drastically or even halts entirely.
In fact, during a flu epidemic in 1918, bodies were buried in Longyearbyen's cemetery, and decades later, scientists found that the virus strains remained preserved in those corpses—raising public health concerns.
Because of this, Longyearbyen officially stopped allowing burials in 1950.
If someone is terminally ill or close to death, they are typically flown to mainland Norway to pass away. The town does not have the infrastructure to handle death in the usual way, and cremation or mainland burial is required instead.
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