The tourists who ventured out on the ice in Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon yesterday escaped unharmed, Vísir reports. Ingólfur Bruun, a guide in the area, captured them on video while they were on the ice.
When Friðrik Jónas Friðriksson, former area manager of the Hornafjörður rescue team, arrived on the scene shortly after 4 pm yesterday, he alerted the tourists, who by then were between 200 and 300 meters from land, to return immediately.
First reports from ICE-SAR had indicated they were trapped on the ice, but they managed to get to land safely on their own. They had gone out on the ice to watch seals that were at a 300 meter distance from the shore.
Ingólfur told Vísir the situation at Jökulsárlón is “a ticking time bomb.” The tourists, he said, had jumped between the pieces of ice. Children as young as nine were there in the company of their parents.
There are no signs by the lagoon to warn people of the danger of getting out on the ice, Vísir reports.
