COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – One person was killed and two were missing after an ice cave in Iceland collapsed on Sunday while it was being explored by tourists, authorities said on Monday.
The victims were part of a 25-member group from several countries who were in the natural cave, located under a glacier, when the incident occurred.
One person was declared dead soon after the incident, while rescue teams conducted an extensive and difficult search for two individuals believed to be trapped under the ice, police said in a statement.
“It’s difficult to get equipment to the area, the rescue missions are therefore mainly done by hand, digging and breaking the ice,” chief of police for the Southern region, Sveinn Kristjan Runarsson, told broadcaster Stod 2.
One person was injured and taken to hospital in stable condition, police said.
The nationalities of those involved were not immediately disclosed.
The incident took place on Breidamerkurjokull in southern Iceland, part of Western Europe’s largest glacier Vatnajokul.
(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Bernadette Baum)
Comments