A German tourist who had been reported missing but later contacted the emergency services was found by the crew of the Coast Guard helicopter TF-Gná yesterday. He was located 14 kilometers southwest of Fjórdungsalda in the highlands to the north of Vatnajökull.
A Coast Guard helicopter. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
The man was in good shape considering the circumstances, but cold and exhausted, an ICE-SAR press release describes. He couldn’t tell the emergency services his exact location but mobile transmitters helped them map out a rough location.
The man was hiking in the area and had planned to contact his family in Germany, which he didn’t. He also didn’t answer his mobile. Around 60 search and rescue team members participated in the search and others were on their way.
Teams from south and north Iceland, the capital region and the Sudurnes region in southwest Iceland had been called out because it was considered important to find the man before darkness fell.
