A huge chunk of ice that fell from Seljalandsfoss waterfall, South Iceland, yesterday came close to hitting one of the tourists in the area in the head, RÚV reports. Luckily, her backpack took the hit instead. When her guide reached her, the tourist was covered in fragments of ice, but unhurt.
Jórunn Rothenberg, guide and bus driver, was in the area with a group of tourists. She had warned her group not to attempt to walk behind the waterfall, as is popular in summer, but to no avail. Suddenly, she heard a rumbling noise and realized a woman had been hit by a chunk of ice. “An icicle, if you can call it that, the length of a human being. It’s in fact a large rock of ice that fell down and literally just missed the woman’s head. She could feel it gliding below her neck and onto her backpack, and it jolted her.”
The dangers of traveling in Iceland have been widely discussed lately, especially since February 10, when a Chinese tourist lost his life on Reynisfjara beach after being swept out by a wave. Warning signs have been disregarded on the beach and by Gullfoss waterfall, it has proven difficult to direct people away from icy areas too close to the precipice.
