The body of a woman believed to be Ásta Stefánsdóttir, a 35-year-old lawyer, who has been missing since June 10, was found in Bleiksárgljúfur canyon, South Iceland, last night.
This was the first organized search since search and rescue called off the search for Ásta after she went missing. Search and rescue had planned to continue searching the canyon every two or three weeks, mbl.is reports.
According to the organizer of the search, Svanur Sævar Lárusson, three members of search and rescue squad Flugbjörgunarsveitin in Hella found the body at the front of the canyon.
“We had searched so thoroughly [on previous occasions] that we found it highly likely that the body had made it into the tunnel and up through there. We didn’t believe it was possible that the body could have been carried into a crack in the cliffs or somewhere else,” Svanur said.
It appears that the river Bleiksá carried the body to the location where it was found yesterday or the day before, Svanur stated. The river has swelled significantly in the past days due to heavy rain.
Ásta was staying in a summer house in the region with her fiancée Pino Becerra Bolanos from Spain over the Whitsun weekend. When no one had heard from them on June 10, search and rescue were called out.
Bolanos’ body was found in the canyon that same night. An autopsy revealed that she had died from injuries after falling down the 30-meter (98-feet) high waterfall in the canyon.
