Tourist Dies After Ice Collapse In Icelandic Glacier

A foreign tourist has died in south Iceland after ice collapsed during a visit their group was making to a glacier, local media report.

A second tourist was injured but they have been taken to hospital and their life is not in danger, while two others are still missing.

Rescuers have suspended the search for the missing in the Breidamerkurjouml;kull glacier until morning because of challenging conditions.

Ice collapsed as the group of 25 people were visiting an ice cave along with a guide on Sunday.
Emergency workers worked by hand to try to rescue those missing.

First responders received a call just before 15:00 on Sunday about the collapse.

"The conditions are very challenging on the ground," said local police chief Sveinn Kristjaacute;n Ruacute;narsson. "It's in the glacier. It's hard to get equipment there... It's bad. Everything is being done by hand."

Local news outlets reported that 200 people were working on the rescue operation at one point on Sunday.

Speaking on Icelandic TV, Chief Superintendent Ruacute;narsson said police had been unable to contact the two missing people.

While the conditions were "challenging", the weather was "fair", he said.

Confirming that all those involved were foreign tourists, he said there was nothing to suggest that the trip to the cave should not have taken place.

"Ice cave tours happen almost the whole year," he said

"These are experienced and potent mountain guides who run these trips. It's always possible to be unlucky. I trust these people to evaluate the situation - when it's safe or not safe to go, and good work has been done there over time. This is a living land, so anything can happen."

The police chief was quoted as saying that people had been standing in a ravine between cave mouths when an ice wall collapsed.

Breidamerkurjouml;kull is a glacial tongue which extends from the Vatnajouml;kull glacier to the Jouml;kulsaacute;rloacute;n lagoon. The glacial tongue is famed for its ice caves, with groups offering tours.BBC