Last weekend members of ICE-SAR search and rescue were called out to assist hikers in different regions of Iceland, as well as drivers who had run into difficulties. No one was harmed but some of these operations were extensive and took a long time.
A foreign tourist became trapped yesterday on a small ledge on the mountain Ólafsfjarðarmúli near the tunnel that connects Dalvík and Ólafsfjörður in the outer Eyjafjörður fjord, North Iceland. The man’s travel companion called for assistance.
Search and rescue from Dalvík were the first to arrive at the scene and were in shouting distance from the man but didn’t have the equipment to reach him. Therefore, a specialized mountain rescue unit from Akureyri had to be sent for. By the time they got to him, the man was feeling rather cold, as described in an ICE-SAR press release.
In South Iceland, search and recue from Hvolsvöllur and the Eyjafjöll region were called out to fetch an injured hiker in Almenningar, on the route from Emstrur in the highlands to nature reserve Þórsmörk.
The woman was not seriously injured, but a paramedic traveled with search and rescue to provide her with painkillers. An ambulance waited for her near Þórsmörk.
Also in South Iceland yesterday, near Hveragerði, a woman became trapped while climbing the northern side of the mountain Ingólfsfjall. She contacted search and rescue but couldn’t describe exactly where she was, so it took some time before they found her.
According to mbl.is, the woman was well prepared and therefore she didn’t get particularly cold even though she wasn’t down from the mountain until around midnight last night.
ICE-SAR said she had probably taken the wrong route down. The woman made the right decision in calling for assistance and staying put, they added.
