Five people were injured yesterday when a minibus carrying 11 passengers went off the road into a ditch on Mýrdalssandur in South Iceland. ICE-SAR rescuers confirmed, however, that the people were not seriously injured.
Rescue teams from Vík í Mýrdal, Kirkjubæjarklaustur and Álftaver were called to the scene and joined emergency crews in helping the injured and moving people away from the scene.
Meanwhile, the driver of a campervan was lucky to escape with only minor injuries when his vehicle was also blown off the road in the high winds—rolling down a steep bank towards the sea at Kollafjörður, between Reykjavík and the Hvalfjörður tunnel.
A hair-raising video of the incident can be seen on the RÚV website.
Sesselja Anna Óskarsdóttir, who took the video from a following car that her father was driving, says that they stopped and rushed to the camper with a first aid kit. “Luckily there wasn’t much to see on him, except a small wound to his head. He was traveling with other people who were in another car. They were there with him until the ambulance came.”
Roads were closed in Northeast Iceland and emergency services led convoys of vehicles (many of which are now on summer tires in accordance with the law) over the treacherous stretches of road. At the time of writing, most major roads in the region are open. You can follow road conditions at Road.is.
The outlook is for continued precipitation, strong northerly winds and bitter temperatures today—especially in North Iceland. It will snow on mountains and high roads, and there will be sleet or rain on lower ground. It will also be another wet day in the southwest, although it is expected to become drier and less windy this evening.
The weather tomorrow (Saturday) will be better. There may be hail in the north, but the south can expect much less wind and temperatures as high as 12 degrees Celsius. The weather will even start getting better in North Iceland from Sunday.
