A Tourist Dies And Two Others Disappear Due To Ice Cave Collapses In Iceland

Illustration of the ice cave in Iceland. (Wikimedia Commons/sergejf)

JAKARTA - Icelandic authorities are searching for two tourists who have been missing since the ice cave collapsed the day before, killing one person and injuring another.

The search, which was suspended last night because conditions were too dangerous to continue, resumed around 7 a.m., Icelandian broadcaster RUV reported.

About 60 members of the search team were already at the scene, and more are expected to arrive all day, the RUV said, as reported by CNN Aug. 26.

Local police said a group of 25 tourists from various countries were exploring an ice cave on the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, southeastern Iceland when the incident occurred shortly before 3pm on Sunday.

Four people were hit by falling ice, with one person dying at the scene and the other being flown to the hospital by helicopter.

The ice cave is a popular tourist destination for Icelandese visitors, with tour operators offering customers the opportunity to "explore the interior of the glacier" and see the blue and "amazing pattern" on the ice.

Glaciers cover about 11 percent of Iceland, an archipelagic country in the northern Atlantic located on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle. The largest is Vatnajokull, which covers 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles). Breidamerkurjokull is part of Vatnajokull which ends up in Laguna Jokulsarlon, where icebergs continue to break out of glaciers.

Local news site Vision said the group that was in the cave when the incident occurred was on an organized tour accompanied by a guide. Most people were outside the cave when it collapsed, Vision reported.

Meanwhile, moving rescue equipment and personnel to the glacier is difficult to do because of the steep terrain, and rescuers have to cut the ice using a chainsaw.

The glacier is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the volcano that erupted on Friday on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest Iceland.