Child Falls Through Crevice at Þingvellir
The path near Hakið Visitor Center on a snowless day. Haraldur Jónasson/Hari
A child fell through a snow-covered crevice in Þingvellir National Park yesterday afternoon, near the Hakið Visitor Center, just north of Þingvallavatn lake, mbl.is reports. Rescue teams from Southwest Iceland were called out.
Einar Sæmundsen, director of the park, states that luckily, contractors working on snow removal were in the area when the accident occurred. Using a small excavator, located nearby, in addition to ropes and lines, they were able to come to the child’s rescue.
National Park Director Einar Sæmundsen. mbl.is/Sigurður Bogi
The child was traveling with foreign tourists, who had been walking along the path in the park. The child ran ahead of them in direction of the Visitor Center.
Normally, the crevice is visible, Einar states, but due to recent heavy snowfall, it no longer was.
“This is a very large and wide crevice, but we’ve had such an enormous amount of snow in recent days that we haven’t been able to keep up with snow removal. A snow bank had formed on top of it, which rarely happens, hiding it completely.”
He states that the incident will be analyzed to see what can be learned from it.
“There are warning signs nearby, but they were partly covered in snow,” he adds.
He notes that everyone is very grateful and happy how well this turned out. As far as mbl.is knows, the child escaped without injury.
