One person has died and two others were still missing a day after an ice cave collapsed in southeast Iceland while a tour group was visiting the area, police said yesterday.
A group of 25 people of “several nationalities” were on a tour of the glacier Breidamerkurjokull together with a guide when the cave collapsed, police said in a statement.
Police said that four people got stuck under the ice and two of them had been found.
Photo: EPA-EFE / NASA Earth Observatory
Sudurland police on Sunday said that the two people recovered were seriously injured, but added in a later statement early yesterday that one of them had been “pronounced dead at the scene.”
The other person was transported to hospital by helicopter and was in a “stable” condition.
Rescue services began a search operation for the two missing on Sunday and were continuing the search yesterday.
“A large number of rescuers and responders have taken part in the operation,” police said, adding that the conditions were “difficult.”
The authorities decided to temporarily suspend the search on Sunday evening once it became too dark and it was no longer considered safe.
Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that efforts to transport equipment and personnel up to the glacier had proven difficult due to the rugged terrain and cutting through the ice was mostly done by hand with chain saws.
The collapse was likely not related to a volcanic eruption in southeast Iceland on Friday last week, about 300km from the glacier.
The glacier where the accident happened is near the glacial lagoon Jokulsarlon, one of Iceland’s more popular tourist destinations.
Additional reporting by AP
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