A overseas vacationer has died in south Iceland after ice collapsed throughout a go to their group was making to a glacier, native media report.
A second vacationer was injured however they’ve been taken to hospital and their life just isn’t at risk, whereas two others are nonetheless lacking.
Rescuers have suspended the seek for the lacking within the Breidamerkurjökull glacier till morning due to tough situations.
Ice collapsed because the group of 25 folks had been visiting an ice cave together with a information on Sunday.
Emergency staff labored by hand to attempt to rescue these lacking.
First responders acquired a name simply earlier than 15:00 (Iceland observes GMT) on Sunday concerning the collapse .
“The situations are very tough on the bottom,” stated native police chief Sveinn Kristján Rúnarsson. “It is within the glacier. It is exhausting to get tools there… It is unhealthy. The whole lot is being accomplished by hand.”
Native information retailers reported that 200 folks had been engaged on the rescue operation at one level on Sunday.
Talking on Icelandic TV, Chief Superintendent Rúnarsson stated police had been unable to contact the 2 lacking folks.
Whereas the situations had been “tough”, the climate was “honest”, he stated.
Confirming that each one these concerned had been overseas vacationers, he stated there was nothing to counsel that the journey to the cave mustn’t have taken place.
“Ice cave excursions occur virtually the entire 12 months,” he stated
“These are skilled and highly effective mountain guides who run these journeys. It is at all times doable to be unfortunate. I belief these folks to evaluate the state of affairs – when it is secure or not secure to go, and good work has been accomplished there over time. It is a dwelling land, so something can occur.”
The police chief was quoted as saying that folks had been standing in a ravine between cave mouths when an ice wall collapsed.
Breidamerkurjökull is a glacial tongue which extends from the Vatnajökull glacier to the Jökulsárlón lagoon. The glacial tongue is famed for its ice caves, with teams providing excursions.
