One foreign tourist has died and two are still missing after an ice cave collapsed in southeast Iceland during a tour group visit.
Rescue workers received a call around 3 p.m. local time that a group of 25 tourists with a guide were exploring Breidamerkurjökull when the canyon wall collapsed.
Sudurland Police reported that four people were trapped under the ice. One tourist is unfortunately dead, two people are still trapped and one tourist was injured but is in stable condition.
The search for the two missing tourists was called off for the day because it had become too dark and the conditions to work were too difficult.
Police chief Sveinn Kristján Rúnarsson told local news website RUV that all rescue work was being carried out manually and that there had been no contact with the two missing people so far.
One foreign tourist has died and two are still missing after an ice cave collapsed in southeast Iceland during a tour group visit
A map shows where the Breidamerkurjökull glacier is located in southeastern Iceland, about 380 km (286 miles) across the country from the capital Reykjavik.
“Four people were stuck under the ice, two people have already been rescued from the ice and are seriously injured,” Sudurland police said in a statement.
“The search for the two people trapped in the ice cave is still ongoing,” the statement continued.
According to reports, around 100 people are involved in the rescue operation, including all emergency services in Suðurland and the capital region.
Three helicopters from the Coast Guard and the Danish Navy as well as all rescue services were called to the scene of the accident.
However, local authorities say they had difficulty finding special equipment to remove the ice.
Hjördís Guðmundsdóttir, communications manager for the civil protection agency, also said that conditions on the glacier were “extremely difficult”.
According to RUV, a man who wished to remain anonymous said that the cave was not that deep, about three to five meters.
Icebergs in the Jökulsárlón lagoon under the Breidamerkurjökull glacier
About ten minutes after his tour group left the cave, they heard a bang but thought nothing of it until they returned to their hotel.
Last night an emergency aid centre was opened in Hofgarð in Öræfi.
The glacier on which the accident occurred is located near the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon, one of Iceland's most popular tourist destinations.