One foreign tourist has died and two remain missing after an ice cave collapsed in southeast Iceland while a tour group was visiting the area.
Emergency responders received a call at around 3pm local time that a group of 25 tourists, with a tour guide, were exploring Breidamerkurjokull when the canyon wall collapsed.
Sudurland police said four people had got stuck under the ice. Sadly one tourist has been confirmed dead, two people remain trapped and one tourist has been injured but is in a stable condition.
The search for the two missing tourists has been called off for the day as it has become too dark and the conditions are too difficult to work in.
Sveinn Kristján Rúnarsson, chief police officer, told local news website RUV that all rescue work was being carried out by hand and that so far, no contact has been made with the two missing persons.
One foreign tourist has died and two remain missing after an ice cave collapsed in southeast Iceland while a tour group was visiting the area
A map shows where the Breidamerkurjokull glacier sits in south-eastern Iceland, about 380km (286 miles) across the country from the capital Reykjavik
‘Four people got stuck under the ice, two people have already been rescued from the ice and are seriously injured,’ Sudurland police previously said in a statement.
‘The search is still on for the two people trapped in the ice cave,’ the statement continued.
Around 100 people are reportedly working on the rescue operation, including all rescue services in Suðurland and the capital area.
Three helicopters from the Coast Guard and Danish Navy have been called out at the site along with all rescue services.
However, local authorities say they have been struggling to get up special equipment to remove ice.
Hjördís Guðmundsdóttir, communications manager for Civil Defence, has also said the conditions on the glacier are ‘extremely difficult’.
According to RUV, one man — who did not want to be named — said the cave was not that deep, about three to five metres.
Icebergs in Jokulsarlon lagoon, beneath Breidamerkurjokull glacier
Around ten minutes after his tour group had left the cave they heard a crash but did not think any more of it until they went back to their hotel.
An emergency aid centre was opened in Hofgarð in Öræfi yesterday evening.
The glacier where the accident happened is near the glacial lagoon Jokulsarlon, one of the Iceland’s more popular tourist destinations.