US man is revealed as vacationer killed in glacier ice cave collapse

An American man was killed and his girlfriend left injured in Iceland yesterday when a natural ice cave collapsed as a group of tourists explored it.

Police launched a rescue operation Sunday around 3pm local time after receiving reports that an ice cave had collapsed at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in southeastern Iceland.

The man died at the scene and his partner was transported to a hospital in Reykjavik, the capital, by helicopter. Her current condition is unknown, but police have confirmed that both victims are American citizens. 

Rescuers mounted a large-scale operation, with as many as 200 rescuers sifting through the icy rubble by hand to find two people believed to have been missing. 

The search was called off on Monday after investigators determined that no one was unaccounted for after examining the tour operator’s records and finding that only 23 people were on the ice cave tour, not 25 as was first believed. 

Even so, rescuers continued the search until all of the collapsed ice had been moved to be sure that no one had been left behind.

A tourist, who did not want to be named, described hearing a terrifying ‘crash’ when the ice cave collapsed yesterday.

He told local media that he had visited the cave just minutes before an ice wall collapsed at the Breidamerkurjokull glacier, part of Western Europe’s largest glacier Vatnajokul.

The man recalled how ten minutes after leaving the cave, which he described as being three to five metres deep, he and his tour group heard a ‘crash’. 

He said they did not think any more of it until they arrived back at their hotel and saw news of the collapse.

It was reported that four tourists were buried under the ice, while the other 21 visitors ‘of various nationalities’ in their group managed to get away unscathed. 

Rescuers found the American couple couple and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. His partner was injured and taken to a hospital.

This morning, the desperate search for two tourists believed to still be missing resumed around 7am local time after it was called off late last night when it got too dark and the conditions were too difficult to work in. 

Video captured this morning showed rescuers working inside two large craters surrounded by the sand-blackened ice of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier.

But by the end of the day, investigators had called off the search and were  satisfied that no one else was missing. 

Police said there had been ‘misleading information’ about the number of people on the trip and fears that two others were trapped was based on a misunderstanding, authorities said. 

‘The police field manager located at the scene announced that all the ice that was thought to have fallen on the people had been moved,’ police said. ‘It has come to light that no one (was) hidden under the ice.’ 

The Association of Icelandic Mountain Guides called for a full investigation and tighter regulations on ice cave tours. Glacier trips during the warmer summer months can be very dangerous, the association said.

The tourism agency is working on a report for the government to discuss regulations regarding trips on the glaciers and especially ice caves tours. 

The Minister of Tourism Lilja Alfredsdóttir said that the matter will be discussed in parliament.

Moving rescue equipment and personnel up to the glacier was difficult due to the rugged terrain, and rescuers had to cut through the ice using chainsaws. 

Around 100 people were reportedly working on the rescue operation this morning, including all rescue services in Sudurland and the capital area.

Jon Por Viglundsson, spokesman for the local accident prevention association, said this morning that rescuers were working in groups of ten to fifteen at a time to crush the ice. 

‘A mobile control station, a special control station vehicle, was moved from Reykjavik last night and tents have been set up in the area for rescuers to have shelter,’ he told local outlet Visir.  ‘Likewise, a communications team was sent to the location to improve communications in the area, which are not good.’

Three helicopters from the Coast Guard and Danish Navy had been called out at the site along with all rescue services. 

Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, communications manager for the Icelandic Civil Defence, also said the conditions on the glacier are ‘extremely difficult’ due to the rugged terrain. 

An emergency aid centre was opened in Hofgard in Örafi yesterday evening.

Steinunn Hodd Hardardottir, a national park ranger in Iceland, told local media that cave trips and glacier walks are allowed on Breidamerkurjokull all year round and that tour companies are trusted to ‘use their best judgement in assessing the [conditions]’.

Sveinn Kristjan Runarsson, chief police officer, told local news website RUV last night that all rescue work was being carried out by hand with chainsaws as authorities were struggling to bring special equipment to remove ice to the remote cave. 

‘It’s tight to get to, so it’s done in short shifts. This is a lot of manual work. We will have three or four teams who will take turns working: shoveling and breaking ice,’ he added this morning. 

Runarsson later said that the tourists were not inside the cave but instead in a ravine between the cave mouths when the ice wall collapsed.

He also revealed that among the 25 on the tour were ‘tourists from many countries’. 

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told MailOnline that no British nationals were affected by the ice wall collapse on Breidamerkurjokull. 

‘Two to four together in smaller groups who joined together and bought this trip from a company,’ Runarsson said.

Breidamerkurjokull’s caves are famous for their ‘crystal blue’ ice, which get their colour from the glacier blocking out other wavelengths of sunlight. They were even featured in the opening scene of the James Bond film A View to a Kill. 

Ice caves are a popular destination for visitors to Iceland, with tour operators offering customers the chance to ‘explore the insides of glaciers’ and see the blue color and ‘stunning patterns’ in the ice.

Glaciers cover about 11 per cent of Iceland, an island nation in the north Atlantic that sits on the southern edge of the Arctic Circle.

The largest is Vatnajokull, which covers 7,900 square kilometers (3,050 square miles). Breidamerkurjokull is a tongue of Vatnajokull that ends at the Jokulsarlon Lagoon, where icebergs constantly break off from the glacier.

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