Crashed Airplane Likely to Be Recovered in April
There is still ice on Þingvallavatn lake. Photo/Police
Preparation for the recovery of the airplane that crashed into Þingvallavatn lake in February will likely begin in April, weather permitting, Chief Superintendent Oddur Árnason tells mbl.is .
Rescue workers on the lake in February. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
“We will wait until it can be done in one session without any interruption,” he notes. “We won’t get going until the ice is gone.” There is still ice on the south side of the lake, where the plane crashed. The plane is located at the bottom of the lake in a cove called Ölfusvatnsvík, at a depth of about 48 meters (160 ft), 800 meters (875 yards) from the shore. Ice on the lake forced rescue workers to postpone the recovery of the plane in February.
mbl.is/Ari
“On the north side, there are some holes in the ice, but we won’t get going until the shore is clear enough for boats to be launched,” Oddur explains.
The plane, a Cessna C172, crashed into the lake on February 3, killing all four men on board. Their bodies were recovered from the lake a week later.
Oddur states that residents in the area regularly send the police photos of the ice on the lake, and whenever the police are in the area, they check the ice.
At the beginning of March, the police prohibited all diving in Ölfusvatnsvík cove.
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