Car crash couple make 'healing' return to Iceland

Elliot Griffiths and Zak Nelson enjoyed Iceland as tourists second time round

A couple who got engaged in intensive care after surviving a head-on crash while on holiday in Iceland said they have "made peace" with the country during a return trip.

Zak Nelson and Elliot Griffiths, from Norwich, had been in Iceland for a matter of hours in April when they had to be rushed to accident and emergency - neither knowing whether the other had survived the accident.

They have since experienced Iceland again - not from a hospital room, where Mr Griffiths spent several weeks after surgery - but as holidaymakers, taking in the sights and thanking the many people who helped them.

"It was a really bad experience the first time, and I wanted to go back and replace those with good memories with the person who was meant to be with me," said Mr Nelson, who had spent each day by his partner's bedside.

The couple spent their first weeks as an engaged couple in two hospitals

The pair had been set for a big adventure six months ago when their hire car was struck and rolled into a ditch.

At hospital, each was frantic for news and became convinced the other had died.

"There was a bit of language barrier, and they [hospital staff] were really busy and they just kept saying 'there is no one else coming'." said Mr Griffiths.

"So at the point I was 'oh dear, that's it, you've gone', and they kept sedating me so I couldn't cry anymore."

Some time later, he could hear his partner's voice and when a curtain was pulled back he saw him in bed in another bay.

"I said 'please wheel me next to him,' and that's when he popped the question because he thought I was dead," said Mr Nelson.

"He was surprised and overwhelmed with emotion."

Seeing the aurora was one of the many moments they enjoyed second time around

While Mr Nelson recovered soon after the accident, Mr Griffiths needed two surgeries before being transferred to the Norfolk and Norwich in May.

To help him through the prolonged stay in Iceland without his partner, Mr Nelson posted videos about their ordeal on TikTok, which were met with offers from locals of food, places to stay and ideas to keep him entertained.

It was this kindness which had made them consider a return visit, even if it meant revisiting the trauma.

During their return holiday earlier this month, they went whale-watching and saw the aurora, volcanoes and black sand beaches, with Mr Griffiths was also keen to walk Mr Nelson's daily route to hospital, and thank its staff.

'Permanently ingrained in our lives'

"It was great, the emotion was huge, they remembered me," he said.

"It was nice to be with the people who looked after me, and to see the Reykjavik that Zak saw.

"I could see the big church from the hospital window, but I never saw it form the other side.

"Going to the church and looking back at the hospital, back at my past, that was the biggest healing moment I had."

Mr Nelson added: "Iceland is permanently ingrained in our lives, we will always have that connection to it, and it was a nice place to be to experience all that kindness and humanity.

"While there was bad news, it brought out a lot of good in people."