Ice cave collapse in Iceland kills 1 tourist and leaves 2 missing

LONDON (AP) — Icelandic rescuers labored by hand Monday to chop by way of the remnants of a collapsed ice cave as they searched for 2 vacationers lacking for greater than 24 hours since a glacier within the southeastern a part of the island caved in, killing one individual and severely injured one other.

The search, which was suspended in a single day when circumstances made it too harmful resumed at about 7 a.m., Icelandic broadcaster RUV reported. Video confirmed rescuers working inside two massive craters surrounded by the sand-blackened ice of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier.

“Now we have three groups that take turns, working for an hour at a time scooping and breaking down ice,’’ Sveinn Rúnar Kristjánsson, the native police chief, instructed RUV. “In the meantime, in fact, we’re nonetheless on this investigative work, determining who is likely to be down there below the ice. This work continues.”

Police stated a bunch of 25 vacationers from a number of international locations had been exploring an ice cave at Breidamerkurjokull when it collapsed shortly earlier than 3 p.m. Sunday. 4 individuals had been struck by falling ice, with one dying on the scene and one other flown to a hospital in Reykjavik, the capital, by helicopter. Authorities haven’t launched the names or nationalities of the victims.

The Affiliation of Icelandic Mountain Guides on Sunday known as for a full investigation and tighter rules on ice cave excursions. Glacier journeys throughout the hotter summer time months may be very harmful, the affiliation stated.

Ice caves are a preferred vacation spot for guests to Iceland, with tour operators providing prospects the prospect to “discover the insides of glaciers” and see the blue coloration and “beautiful patterns” within the ice.

“This can be a horrible occasion that you just don’t need anybody to undergo,″ Garðar Hrafn Sigurjónsson, the affiliation’s vice-chairman, instructed native information web site Visir. “We remorse this horrible accident on the Breiðamerkurjökull, each me personally and the affiliation.”

Visir stated the group that was on the cave throughout the collapse was on an organized tour accompanied by a information. Many of the guests had been exterior the cave when it got here down, it reported.

Glaciers cowl about 11% of Iceland, an island nation within the north Atlantic that sits on the southern fringe of the Arctic Circle. The most important is Vatnajokull, which covers 7,900 sq. kilometers (3,050 sq. miles). Breidamerkurjokull is a tongue of Vatnajokull that ends on the Jokulsarlon Lagoon, the place icebergs consistently break off from the glacier.

Shifting rescue tools and personnel as much as the glacier was tough as a result of rugged terrain, and rescuers needed to minimize by way of the ice utilizing chainsaws.

The glacier is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from a volcano that erupted Friday on the Reykjanes Peninsula in southwestern Iceland.

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Keyton reported from Berlin.