“How is this okay on a beach where people have died?” asks Þórdís Pétursdóttir, who was at Reynisfjara beach last week doing a research for her Bachelor thesis on the safety at the beach. Þórdís captured the videos below of people running towards the waters edge or standing with their backs towards the waves busy taking photos.
In February this year a Chinese traveller drowned at the beach when he lost his footing at the water’s edge and was pulled to sea with the receding wave, and in 2007 an American woman was swept into the ocean by a large wave and lost her life.
The South Iceland beach is a popular travel destination due to its black sands, the magnificent breaking waves, the beautiful cliff of basalt columns and the view towards the stunning rock arch of the nearby Dyrhólaey peninsula.
There have been numerous other accounts where foreign visitors have been caught in the strong undertow in Reynisfjara but have narrowly escaped unharmed. With the rising traffic to the beach it’s only a question of time before we will see more casualties at the beach if a proportion of visitors keep toying with death as can been in Þórdís’s video.
There is a big information sign at the beach, which warns travellers of going too near the oceanfront. Still it’s all too common that people venture too close to the shoreline. There are few places in the world where the undertow current is as strong as in Reynisfjara.
Don’t be the tourist who wades thoughtlessly into the ocean in order to capture the ‘perfect shot’.
Reynisfjara beach is 180 km (112 mi) from Reykjavík via Highway One (the Ring Road).
“How is this okay on a beach where people have died?” asks Þórdís Pétursdóttir, who was at Reynisfjara beach last week doing a research for her Bachelor thesis on the safety at the beach. Þórdís captured the videos below of people running towards the waters edge or standing with their backs towards the waves busy taking photos.
In February this year a Chinese traveller drowned at the beach when he lost his footing at the water’s edge and was pulled to sea with the receding wave, and in 2007 an American woman was swept into the ocean by a large wave and lost her life.
The South Iceland beach is a popular travel destination due to its black sands, the magnificent breaking waves, the beautiful cliff of basalt columns and the view towards the stunning rock arch of the nearby Dyrhólaey peninsula.
There have been numerous other accounts where foreign visitors have been caught in the strong undertow in Reynisfjara but have narrowly escaped unharmed. With the rising traffic to the beach it’s only a question of time before we will see more casualties at the beach if a proportion of visitors keep toying with death as can been in Þórdís’s video.
There is a big information sign at the beach, which warns travellers of going too near the oceanfront. Still it’s all too common that people venture too close to the shoreline. There are few places in the world where the undertow current is as strong as in Reynisfjara.
Don’t be the tourist who wades thoughtlessly into the ocean in order to capture the ‘perfect shot’.
Reynisfjara beach is 180 km (112 mi) from Reykjavík via Highway One (the Ring Road).
