The emergency service Ingunn at Laugarvatn, southwest Iceland, rescued two men from the roof of a car yesterday who were stuck in a lake caused by melting snow in Laugarvatnsvellir fields on the way to Thingvellir.
The men’s vehicle was almost submerged in water so they crawled out onto the roof and waited there for two hours before they were rescued. It is difficult to establish telephone connection in that area, Morgunbladid reports.
It is common for travelers to run into trouble in Laugarvatnsvellir at this time of year. In times of thawing and snow melt, water accumulates in the fields and creates a lake.
According to members of emergency service Ingunn, the lake is passable on properly equipped jeeps, but only if the road is followed. There are ditches on either side of the road, so if vehicles run outside the road they get stuck.
Jeep drivers ran into trouble in Laugarvatnsvellir on Saturday as well. One of the vehicles was nearly submerged, but the travelers managed to get it onto dry land without any help.
The road across the fields, Gjábakkavegur, is closed, but that doesn’t prevent jeepers from trying to use it. Bjarni Daníelsson, the director of Ingunn, said the emergency service is called out almost every weekend.
According to Daníelsson, a new road is planned, but it has “gotten lost in the system” because of criticism from a water biologist and an expert in the plant and animal life in the nearby Thingvallavatn lake.
