'I visited one of the coldest towns in the world - but I was surprised by one law'

Popular YouTuber Simon Wilson was visiting the picturesque town of Longyearbyen off the coast of , when he discovered that they had one bizarre law in place.

Having made the trip from his home country of Wales, he touched down in the ice-cold conditions of the Norwegian island to find that they had a decades-old law in place that states locals aren't allowed to die.

Eager to learn more about the law, he spoke to a local resident, Marcus, to try and discover what exactly it meant for residents of the town. Marcus said: "There's no elderly home (retirement home) and of course there have been cases of people dying here but in general, if somebody is too elderly or can't take care of themselves, they're not allowed to be on the island."

Trying to understand how the local government stays on top of the rule, Simon wondered how the policy was enforced on residents, as Marcus explained: "(The local government) has a register of who is what age and who is working, who is not"

Marcus claimed that most locals will start to leave the island once they turn 70.

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While some might be confused by the law, there is science at the heart of their reasoning, as Christian Meyer, from the Norwegian University of Science and , explained. He said: "The reason for this is that the permanently frozen ground will not only tend to keep your buried remains from decomposing and push them to the surface - it may also perfectly preserve the disease that killed you, for locals to pick up later."

He added: "If you seem to be about to expire, every effort will be made to send you to the mainland."

With their odd rule surrounding death catching people's attention, it is not the only peculiar rule that locals are required to abide by. It is also written in law that residents must carry a gun, and according to secretatlas.com "Since 2012, it has been a legal requirement that anyone travelling outside of a settlement must carry a firearm due to the threat posed by polar bears."

And, Simon isn't the only YouTuber to be shocked by the towns strange rules, as Ben Morris told his viewers earlier this year: "We've arrived. The terrain is like nothing I've ever seen in my life before. It's just incredible. I think they also have a lot of polar bears here, which I'm terrified about," the

"There's a rule here that when you're leaving the settlement, you're required to carry a firearm for protection.

"Known for being one of the most dangerous carnivores on planet Earth, there are more polar bears in existence in this region than there are humans, adding an extra layer of apprehension and complexity to the environment I'd signed up to."