The woman who died in a tragic accident on the way to Þórsmörk Nature Preserve on Friday was a US citizen in her twenties. She was on her honeymoon with her husband when the accident took place.
Previously: Foreign traveler drowned crossing an unbridged river in S. Iceland
The accident took place early afternoon at the unbridged crossing over Steinholtsá river, a glacial melt river which carries meltwater from Steinholtsjökull, an outlet glacier of Eyjafjallajökull glacier. The river had swollen due to significant rain in recent days. According to sources the river was at its worst on Friday. Steinholtsá is a difficult river to cross, as the riverbed and the river shift constantly. As is the cas with many unbridged rivers in Iceland the crossing over the river is therefore constantly on the move.
The vehicle the couple was driving lost grip while crossing the river, and floated down river. The people exited their vehicle, but it appears that the woman was either knocked down by the current, or she lost her footing, causing her to fall in the raging river which carried her approximately 650 meters (2,100 ft) downstream. She finally came to a stop on shallows in the middle of the river. The man made it ashore.
According to the National Broadcasting Service RÚV there were no witnesses to the accident, but people, including ICE-SAR members who were nearby, arrived at the scene shortly after it took place. The woman could only be reached by a modified ICE-SAR mountain truck. The Coast Guard was notified immediately to airlift the people to hospital in Reykjavík. However, attempts to resuscitate the woman at the scene were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead upon arrival at the National University Hospital in Reykjavík.
The woman who died in a tragic accident on the way to Þórsmörk Nature Preserve on Friday was a US citizen in her twenties. She was on her honeymoon with her husband when the accident took place.
Previously: Foreign traveler drowned crossing an unbridged river in S. Iceland
The accident took place early afternoon at the unbridged crossing over Steinholtsá river, a glacial melt river which carries meltwater from Steinholtsjökull, an outlet glacier of Eyjafjallajökull glacier. The river had swollen due to significant rain in recent days. According to sources the river was at its worst on Friday. Steinholtsá is a difficult river to cross, as the riverbed and the river shift constantly. As is the cas with many unbridged rivers in Iceland the crossing over the river is therefore constantly on the move.
The vehicle the couple was driving lost grip while crossing the river, and floated down river. The people exited their vehicle, but it appears that the woman was either knocked down by the current, or she lost her footing, causing her to fall in the raging river which carried her approximately 650 meters (2,100 ft) downstream. She finally came to a stop on shallows in the middle of the river. The man made it ashore.
According to the National Broadcasting Service RÚV there were no witnesses to the accident, but people, including ICE-SAR members who were nearby, arrived at the scene shortly after it took place. The woman could only be reached by a modified ICE-SAR mountain truck. The Coast Guard was notified immediately to airlift the people to hospital in Reykjavík. However, attempts to resuscitate the woman at the scene were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead upon arrival at the National University Hospital in Reykjavík.
