A foreign traveller was hit by a car and killed last night in South Iceland. The accident happened on the Ring Road (Highway 1) where many visitors park their car before visiting the crashed US Navy Douglas Dakota DC 3 plane wreck that sits abandoned on Sólheimasandur beach.
In March this year landowners closed the driving track leading to the plane wreck, which is one of Iceland’s most visited landmarks due to the desolate location on the black sand beach, and being only around 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) away from Ring Road 1.
According to one of the landowners, farmer Benedikt Bragason, they decided to close the track, as visitors’ behavior in the area was not acceptable, with too many taking their vehicles off road and tearing up the sand and some fragile vegetation in the area.
Yesterday’s accident happened after dark, around 11 in the evening and as there is no street light in the area the visibility was not good. The traveller was passing the road when he was hit. The driver is also a foreign traveller.
The local police is now looking into bringing the speed limit in this area down from 90 km/h (56 mph) to 50 km/h (31 mph).
Please be very careful if you are planning to visit the plane. It's worth the hike, but parking conditions are not good at all along the narrow road where the traffic can be very fast.
A veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars
The plane wreck has featured in countless Instagram photos online, several photo essays in foreign media, TV commercials and music videos, most recently in Justin Bieber’s I’ll Show You.
Read more: Justin Bieber releases new music video shot in Iceland
It crashed on November 21, 1973 on Sólheimasandur beach west of the village of Vík in South Iceland. The crew survived, but the cause of the crash are somewhat unclear as accounts differ as to whether it was due to a mechanical failure, the plane running out of fuel, or a storm.
Read more: Sólheimasandur sand beach famous plane wreck vandalised
The plane was one of four Douglas Dakotas based at the US Navy base in Keflavík Airport, in Reykjanes peninsula Southwest Iceland, which was an important military base during the Cold War. The planes, which had previously served in the Korean and Vietnam wars, all met their ends in Iceland, as the three other planes were damaged during take-off. The base was closed in 2006 when the US Navy left.
A foreign traveller was hit by a car and killed last night in South Iceland. The accident happened on the Ring Road (Highway 1) where many visitors park their car before visiting the crashed US Navy Douglas Dakota DC 3 plane wreck that sits abandoned on Sólheimasandur beach.
In March this year landowners closed the driving track leading to the plane wreck, which is one of Iceland’s most visited landmarks due to the desolate location on the black sand beach, and being only around 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) away from Ring Road 1.
According to one of the landowners, farmer Benedikt Bragason, they decided to close the track, as visitors’ behavior in the area was not acceptable, with too many taking their vehicles off road and tearing up the sand and some fragile vegetation in the area.
Yesterday’s accident happened after dark, around 11 in the evening and as there is no street light in the area the visibility was not good. The traveller was passing the road when he was hit. The driver is also a foreign traveller.
The local police is now looking into bringing the speed limit in this area down from 90 km/h (56 mph) to 50 km/h (31 mph).
Please be very careful if you are planning to visit the plane. It's worth the hike, but parking conditions are not good at all along the narrow road where the traffic can be very fast.
A veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars
The plane wreck has featured in countless Instagram photos online, several photo essays in foreign media, TV commercials and music videos, most recently in Justin Bieber’s I’ll Show You.
Read more: Justin Bieber releases new music video shot in Iceland
It crashed on November 21, 1973 on Sólheimasandur beach west of the village of Vík in South Iceland. The crew survived, but the cause of the crash are somewhat unclear as accounts differ as to whether it was due to a mechanical failure, the plane running out of fuel, or a storm.
Read more: Sólheimasandur sand beach famous plane wreck vandalised
The plane was one of four Douglas Dakotas based at the US Navy base in Keflavík Airport, in Reykjanes peninsula Southwest Iceland, which was an important military base during the Cold War. The planes, which had previously served in the Korean and Vietnam wars, all met their ends in Iceland, as the three other planes were damaged during take-off. The base was closed in 2006 when the US Navy left.
