Criticizes ice cave trips in the summer

Helgi Björnsson, glaciologist and professor emeritus at the Earth Sciences Institute of the University of Iceland, believes that it is extremely dangerous to offer trips to ice caves during the summer. The caves are constantly changing during the summer when the glacier is moving more. You should wait until autumn to go on such trips.

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Fatal accident in an ice cave in Breiðamerkurjökull glacier

"Then maybe you can go in there, and that's how these trips have been to see these ice caves. "For a short time, this was only done in the fall, in October or November, when the melting is over and there is more stability," says Björnsson in an interview with Morgunblaðið.

One person died and another was seriously injured when a wall in the icecave fell on tourists while exploring an ice cave in Breiðamerkurjökull glacier on Sunday. The man who died and the woman who was injured in the ice cave were a couple from the United States. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, but the woman was taken by helicopter to the accident department in Fossvogur. She is not considered to be in danger.

Björnsson says the fatal accident that happened on Sunday confirms the danger to life that comes with ice cave trips in the summer.

Got wrong information

Rescue operations ended yesterday, but it was believed that two more people were under the ice. The search had been ongoing since late Sunday.

The tourism company that organized the trip to Breiðamerkurjökull glacier gave the police false information about the number of tourists in the group. At first, it was thought that 25 people had been on the trip when there were 23.

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The search has been called off: No one under the ice

Landsbjörg Rescue team's information representative says that the number of people who have come to the rescue operations is close to 250. The police also say that massive hard work has been done at the scene. An enormous amount of ice was broken, more or less by hand.

The travel company that organized the trip is owned by two Americans and on the company's website it boasts of being one of the few companies in Iceland that offers ice cave tours in the summer.

An investigation into the circumstances of the accident is currently underway, but the police in South Iceland say the investigation is at an early stage. Superintendent Sveinn Kristján Rúnarsson says it is unlikely that anyone will be prosecuted in the case.