More than 120 members of Search and Rescue units from Reykjavík and South Iceland are currently searching for two missing travelers who got lost while on a snowmobile tour near Langjökull glacier in the Central Highlands. The two got lost in the afternoon when the group they were with had to return from the foothills of the glacier due to severe weather.
The weather at the site is extremely hostile, with storm or gale force winds, freezing temperature and heavy blowing snow. Visibility is currently zero. Most of the ICE-SAR units have been arriving at the site in the last few hours. An ICE-SAR spokesman told the local newspaper Morgunblaðið that the proper search operation began just before seven as the full force of the Search and Rescue Units was arriving at the scene.
Snowmobile tours had been canceled due to severe weather
The two, who are both in their fifties, had been with a group of travellers who were on an organized snowmobile tour with a local tour company. The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reports that another tour company had canceled snowmobile tours today due to the storm warning, but the company the two travellers were with had determined conditions were not severe enough to warrant a cancelation. Six to seven guides accompanied the tour of 30 foreign travellers.
Read more: Weather warning for South and West Iceland today: Dangerously powerful wind gusts, icy roads
However, upon reaching the foothills of the glacier, by Skálpsnes at Geldingafell mountain, the group decided it was best to return, due to the severe weather. The two foreign travellers got separated from the group at this point. The guides attempted to find the people and contact them by phone but were unable to either locate them or get a signal. Search and Rescue Units were then called in.
A spokesman for ICE-SAR who spoke with the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service says the two travellers are well equipped. They were separated from their group at three in the afternoon. They had not yet been found at eight in the afternoon.
The map below shows the approximate site where the two were seperated from their group. You can zoom out to see the location.
More than 120 members of Search and Rescue units from Reykjavík and South Iceland are currently searching for two missing travelers who got lost while on a snowmobile tour near Langjökull glacier in the Central Highlands. The two got lost in the afternoon when the group they were with had to return from the foothills of the glacier due to severe weather.
The weather at the site is extremely hostile, with storm or gale force winds, freezing temperature and heavy blowing snow. Visibility is currently zero. Most of the ICE-SAR units have been arriving at the site in the last few hours. An ICE-SAR spokesman told the local newspaper Morgunblaðið that the proper search operation began just before seven as the full force of the Search and Rescue Units was arriving at the scene.
Snowmobile tours had been canceled due to severe weather
The two, who are both in their fifties, had been with a group of travellers who were on an organized snowmobile tour with a local tour company. The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reports that another tour company had canceled snowmobile tours today due to the storm warning, but the company the two travellers were with had determined conditions were not severe enough to warrant a cancelation. Six to seven guides accompanied the tour of 30 foreign travellers.
Read more: Weather warning for South and West Iceland today: Dangerously powerful wind gusts, icy roads
However, upon reaching the foothills of the glacier, by Skálpsnes at Geldingafell mountain, the group decided it was best to return, due to the severe weather. The two foreign travellers got separated from the group at this point. The guides attempted to find the people and contact them by phone but were unable to either locate them or get a signal. Search and Rescue Units were then called in.
A spokesman for ICE-SAR who spoke with the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service says the two travellers are well equipped. They were separated from their group at three in the afternoon. They had not yet been found at eight in the afternoon.
The map below shows the approximate site where the two were seperated from their group. You can zoom out to see the location.
