It was anything but a quiet meal for a group of tourists who stopped to have a picnic on a glacier in Iceland, only to have their vantage point break off and float away. The four Americans had stopped for a Sunday dinner at the Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon in East Iceland over the weekend, setting up a table and chairs for their feast. But suddenly, a gust of wind caused the ice floe they were sitting on to break off and drift out into the water. One of the tourists was able to scramble off the massive piece of ice and called 112 for help. When they were found by first responders, they were about 32 feet off the shore, according to Iceland Review. The tourists were not identified. A photo from the scene shows the three tourists sitting calmly in the chairs before they were saved. After the daring rescue, the first responders took a lighthearted approach to the tourists' predicament. 'When we arrived it was quite comical to see them sitting on chairs and with a table on an iceberg,' Páll Sigureur Vignisson of the Hornafj?reur rescue team, told Iceland Review. He added: 'Yes, the dinner was over.' When pressed by the paper to reveal what it was the tourists had been eating, Páll said that he was too busy passing over lifejackets to them to notice. In an interview with RúV, he took a more serious tone. Páll said: 'They could have been in danger. We never know how ice will behave, if it rolls over and when - we just don’t know.' The Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon is a hot spot among visitors to Iceland, known for its spectacular views, huge glaciers and numerous icebergs dotting the area's waters. |
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