An aerial view of the Breidamerkurjökull glacier in 2021
Two people are trapped after ice collapsed during a tour of a cave in an Iceland glacier, police said.
First responders received a call just before 15:00 local time (16:00 BST) on Sunday about the ice collapse in the Breidamerkurjökull glacier in the country’s south.
A group of 25 people were on a tour with a guide at the time.
Four people were hit by ice. Two were rescued with serious injuries, while rescuers were still searching for the other two as of 22:00 BST, according to local media.
Local news outlets reported that 200 people were working on the rescue operation that would continue into the night.
Police said in their press release around 18:00 that an ice cave had collapsed.
However, Icelandic news outlet Visir quoted Sveinn Kristján Rúnarsson, a senior police officer, as saying people were actually standing in a ravine between the cave mouths when an ice wall collapsed.
Breidamerkurjökull is what is called a glacial tongue that extends from large glacier Vatnajökull and into lagoon Jökulsárlón. The glacial tongue is famed for its ice caves, with groups offering tours.
