Groups of tourists are increasingly traveling to Iceland on behalf of foreign tourist agencies without local tour guides. That can prove hazardous, like when a woman was buried in loose rocks near the volcano Askja in the central highlands on Sunday. She suffered injuries but is recovering.
Instead of tour guides, tourists are often accompanied by so-called group leaders, who aren’t familiar with Icelandic circumstances and usually don’t know how to react when something happens, Morgunbladid reports.
Tour guide Rósa Björk Halldórsdóttir was at Askja on Sunday with a group of Italians when the accident occurred. She said none of the woman’s traveling companions could speak English, so she had called for help, tended to the woman and interpreted.
“I’m very glad that we were there, considering their situation. They didn’t know what to do, like how to call for help,” Halldórsdóttir said, adding she doesn’t like groups of tourists traveling around Iceland without proper guidance.
The injured woman is currently recovering at the hospital in Akureyri.
