A bear attack victim has been rescued after a helicopter crew spotted his pleas for help from the air.

During a flight from Kotzebue to Nome in Alaska earlier this week, the US Coast Guard crew from Kodiak approached a remote mining camp.

They could see an SOS sign on top of a shack and, when they passed over the scene again, a man was standing nearby waving both hands in the air, indicating his need for help.

He had been attacked by a bear a few days earlier, leaving him with a leg injury and bruising on his torso.

The helicopter crew members took him to get treatment in Nome, a small port near the Bering Strait.

He said the bear had come to his camp and harassed him every night during the previous week.