US tourist dies after ice collapse in Icelandic glacier

An aerial view of the Breidamerkurjökull glacier in 2021

An American man has died in south Iceland after ice collapsed while he was on a group tour to a glacier, police said.

A female tourist was injured, but she was taken to hospital and her life is not in danger. The man and woman were a couple and she is also a US citizen.

Police initially believed 25 people were on the tour and that two other people were trapped in the Breidamerkurjökull glacier. Rescuers spent most of a day searching, but called off the operation on Monday after they cleared the ice and found no one.

Police said the tour's registration information was inaccurate and only 23 people were on it. Ice collapsed as the group was visiting an ice cave along with a guide on Sunday.

First responders received a call just before 15:00 on Sunday about the collapse.

The search for the two people believed to be trapped lasted until midnight and then restarted at 07:00 on Monday.

More than 200 first responders participated in the search and rescue operation, with almost all of the ice broken down and moved by hand.

Police thanked search and rescue teams, as well as tourists near the site, who assisted crews with accommodation and food for the past 24 hours.

Speaking on Icelandic TV, Chief Superintendent Rúnarsson said there was nothing to suggest that the trip to the cave should not have taken place.

"Ice cave tours happen almost the whole year," he said

"These are experienced and powerful mountain guides who run these trips. It's always possible to be unlucky. I trust these people to assess the situation - when it's safe or not safe to go, and good work has been done there over time. This is a living land, so anything can happen."

The police chief was quoted as saying that people had been standing in a ravine between cave mouths when an ice wall collapsed.

One tourist who witnessed the collapse told The New York Times he watched as the tour guides rushed to hastily organise a rescue effort.

“None of us knew each other,” said Scott Stevens of Austin, Texas, who was on a tour with his 10-year-old daughter. “We didn’t even speak each other’s languages.”

He said that he was standing above the canyon when he heard a loud boom and saw guides attending to an injured person.

"It was very surreal," he said, describing the chaotic scene.

Breidamerkurjökull is a glacial tongue which extends from the Vatnajökull glacier to the Jökulsárlón lagoon. The glacial tongue is famed for its ice caves, with groups offering tours.