Huntington teen returning from Alaska

Simeon Melman is due back Wednesday from Alaska, and he'll have quite a story to tell.

The 17-year-old from Huntington was one of seven students attacked by a grizzly bear Saturday night while participating in an Alaskan outdoor survival skills course. He wasn't seriously injured, and he provided lifesaving first aid to several of his companions, his father, Alexander Melman, said.

No adults were present, and the teens had to signal for help with an emergency beacon. They were rescued hours later by Alaska state police.

"You're not just gonna have a park ranger come to you in the middle of the night and ask if everything's OK," Simeon said at a Monday news conference. "You really have to rely on yourself and the others with you."

Four students of the National Outdoor Leadership School were hospitalized, two with serious injuries. Two have since been released.

Samuel Gottsegen, 17, of Denver, bore the brunt of the attack.

"I thought: 'I'm going to die,' " he told The Associated Press from his hospital bed in Anchorage. "I thought, 'This just can't be happening to me.' "

Simeon's mother, Julia Melman, said she can't wait for her son to arrive home Wednesday afternoon. She said she's astounded by the media attention the ordeal generated.

She said she has seen a video of the boys at the news conference and saw them on "Good Morning America" Tuesday. She's not able to reach Simeon directly now, as he is without a cellphone and has been calling when he can from friends' phones.

Julia Melman also mentioned that Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, where Simeon has been a volunteer in the intensive-care unit, will present her son with an award for his service this week.

During Monday's news conference, Shane Garlock, 16, who was not injured, said his friends' screams during the five- to seven-minute attack haunt him.

"Whenever I tell this, I usually outline the screaming that I could hear from my friends and the growls from the bear, which were loud and deep, and the screams, which were hopeless screaming, and I can still hear it in my head," he said.

Noah Allaire, 16, of Albuquerque, who also spoke at the news conference, bore stitches that outlined a giant bite mark on top of his head.

"It seemed like it went on forever," he said. "It was scary, but you have to expect the worst."

Alaska TV station KTVA reported Monday that none of the boys in the group could activate their bear repellent spray in time. The station said the teens did not have a gun, and that the attack was a first for the outdoor leadership school, which was founded in 1965.