Members of the search and rescue team Tintron from Grímsnes in Grafningshreppur, Southwest Iceland, were called out to assist travelers on modified trucks, two adults and four children, at around 11 pm on Saturday evening. They weren’t found immediately and had to spend the night in their vehicles.

Þingvellir National Park. The shield volcano Skjaldbreiður (in the distance to the left) erupted 9,000 years ago. Þingvellir was created in the same eruption. Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review. 

The travelers were driving on a highland trail near the mountain Skjaldbreiður north of Þingvellir National Park but got stuck in slush, Morgunblaðið reports.

Tintron members arrived on a snowmobile approximately two hours after the emergency call was made. However, they couldn’t locate the vehicles due to poor visibility and sporadic telephone connection, as described in an ICE-SAR press release.

Because there were children among the stranded travelers, a Coast Guard helicopter was called out to participate in the search at 2 am. However, the helicopter crew had to abandon the search mission shortly afterwards due to poor visibility.

Eventually, telephone connection could be reestablished and the people were able to state almost their exact location.

The trucks were stuck but the travelers were all in good condition. Trinton towed the vehicles loose and accompanied them to town where they arrived at 7 am on Sunday morning.

The Coast Guard was busy with assisting three vessels in North Iceland last weekend, which had to be towed to harbor in Siglufjörður and Akureyri. A fourth vessel off South Iceland was accompanied to harbor in Sandgerði due to bad weather.

Yesterday, 25-30 search and rescue team members continued search for a man reported missing in Siglufjörður last week. The search area has now been limited to the fjord as the entire search area on land is believed to have been covered.

Boats and divers were used for the search, including a boat from the ICE-SAR team in Akranes, which is equipped with a camera to scan the ocean floor.

ESA