The Ring Road has been reopened to traffic at Holtavörðuheiði, Northwest Iceland, following a heavy snowstorm which trapped seven trucks and their drivers on the road overnight, RÚV reports. The Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration has since cleared the road and dug out the trucks and their drivers.
Eggert Lindberg Ólafsson, a driver for the company Flytjanda, got stuck in his truck around 1:30 am. “We just drove up the heath with no visibility and couldn’t see anything. Then I actually arrived up on the heath and there was a snowdrift and I couldn’t go any further,” stated Eggert.
The Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue was called just before 2 am, and rescued some individuals stuck in passenger vehicles in the area. The seven trucks and their drivers, however, were stuck higher up on the road and had to wait until morning for rescue.
Eggert was far from alarmed about the situation. “We just had to sleep, there was nothing to do. We were just fine, we have bunks and heat,” said Eggert.
This was not the first time a snowstorm has trapped Eggert in his truck overnight. In 1996, he got stuck at Víðigerði for three days. “This is just a small sample compared to the weather which hit then,” Eggert told RÚV.
