Six foreign travellers were involved in a serious road accident near the village Vík yesterday evening. According to an announcement from the Police in South Iceland a RV which the group was driving was blown off the road by Reynisfjall mountain, landing at the bottom of a valley below the road.
One of the five travellers suffered serious injuries in the accident and was flown to the National University Hospital in Reykjavík by a Coast Guard helicopter.
A dangerous stretch of the Ring Road
The accident took place on the Ring Road by Reynisfjall mountain, the small mountain which separates the black sand beach Reynisfjara and the village of Vík. The road around the mountain is one of the more perilous passes on the Ring Road, due to the frequency of extremely powerful wind gusts around the mountain.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Icelandic Road and Coastal Authority had both issued a severe weather warning for South Iceland yesterday. At the time of the accident wind speeds in individual gusts exceeded 30 m/s (67 mph). Wind gusts of this magnitude can easily blow RVs off the road, or cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles.
RVs were turned around last night
An eye witness who spoke to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV said that storm had blown the wreck of the RV long distances, and that pieces of the structure had been scattered all along the valley and mountain.
RÚV reports that ICE SAR units set up checkpoints on the Ring Road in South and South East Iceland to stop people driving RVs to warn them of the weather conditions in the region.
Six foreign travellers were involved in a serious road accident near the village Vík yesterday evening. According to an announcement from the Police in South Iceland a RV which the group was driving was blown off the road by Reynisfjall mountain, landing at the bottom of a valley below the road.
One of the five travellers suffered serious injuries in the accident and was flown to the National University Hospital in Reykjavík by a Coast Guard helicopter.
A dangerous stretch of the Ring Road
The accident took place on the Ring Road by Reynisfjall mountain, the small mountain which separates the black sand beach Reynisfjara and the village of Vík. The road around the mountain is one of the more perilous passes on the Ring Road, due to the frequency of extremely powerful wind gusts around the mountain.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Icelandic Road and Coastal Authority had both issued a severe weather warning for South Iceland yesterday. At the time of the accident wind speeds in individual gusts exceeded 30 m/s (67 mph). Wind gusts of this magnitude can easily blow RVs off the road, or cause drivers to lose control of their vehicles.
RVs were turned around last night
An eye witness who spoke to the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV said that storm had blown the wreck of the RV long distances, and that pieces of the structure had been scattered all along the valley and mountain.
RÚV reports that ICE SAR units set up checkpoints on the Ring Road in South and South East Iceland to stop people driving RVs to warn them of the weather conditions in the region.
