Tourist killed and another in critical condition as Iceland cave collapses

Victims buried under slabs of ice after collapse on Breidamerkurjokull glacier in south-east Iceland

One tourist has died, with another in a critical condition, after an ice cave collapsed on a remote Icelandic glacier in Iceland.
The tourists were buried under slabs of ice after the wall at the entrance to the cave, on the Breidamerkurjokull glacier in the south-east of the country, collapsed on Sunday afternoon.
Fears that two more tourists remained buried proved unfounded, with police saying the reports were based on a misunderstanding. Reports had said the tour group consisted of 25 people, but it was later confirmed that only 23 had taken part.
The accident happened during an exploration of the cave shortly before 3pm on Sunday. One person died at the scene while another was rescued and flown to a hospital in Reykjavík, where they remained in critical condition. Both were American citizens, police said.
A tourist who was at the scene in the afternoon before the cave wall collapsed described hearing a crash on his way back down from the glacier.
He told a local news station that his group thought nothing of it until they returned to their hotel and heard the news. The man, who did not want to be named, said that the cave was three to five metres deep at most.
An extensive search for missing persons began on Sunday and continued on Monday.
Drone footage shot on Monday showed several dozen rescue workers at the scene, some with spades attempting to dig through huge slabs of ice that collapsed into the muddy ice ravine.
Police have described the conditions as “very difficult”, with rescue services unable to get heavy machinery up onto the glacier and most of the work was being done by hand. 
However, by Monday evening police had called off the search, saying there were no more missing people.
“The police field manager located at the scene announced that all the ice that was thought to have fallen on the people had been moved,” police said. “It has come to light that no one [was] hidden under the ice.’’
Police said there had been “misleading information” about the number of people on the trip. Based on initial information, it was deemed necessary to continue the search until rescuers could be assured no one was under the ice, they added.
Breidamerkurjokull is a tongue of ice that stretches down to the coast from the main glacier in the Vatnajokull National Park. One of Iceland’s biggest tourist attractions, it is famous for the constantly changing caves cut through it by rainfall and rivers in the summer.
The change and movement in the ice makes it highly unstable, local mountain guides have warned. In recent months, they have raised questions about safety on the glacier, which tour groups can visit all year round.
The Association of Mountain Guides in Iceland called for an investigation, saying there needed to be stricter rules for when such tours can take place.
In June, Iris Ragnarsdottir Pedersen, a mountain guide, told local broadcaster RUV some tour companies were breaking the law by drilling man-made entrances to the caves. She said it was only responsible to carry out tours between December and March.