A foreign man in his seventies died in Almannagjá at Þingvellir national park on Saturday. The man lived abroad and was travelling in Iceland.
As stated by mbl.is, there was a great set of measures undertaken in Almannagjá on Saturday, due to a man falling acutely ill. Emergency personnel from The Health Institute of South Iceland, together with the staff of the national park, provided the man with first aid.
The Coast Guard’s helicopter, police, and paramedics from Reykjavík and Selfoss arrived on the scene. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a conversation with Morgunblaðið, the national park guard Einar Á. E. Sæmundsen said: „Of course people are alarmed by incidents such as this one. Many people were in the area and saw what happened and how things transpired. Such events also put a lot of strain on our staff, who must deal with many different and demanding tasks. When there are 4,000 to 6,000 people in the area every day, as is the case in high summer, one can always expect unexpected events like this one, that we respond to to the best of our ability. „
This article was originally published in Icelandic by Lára Garðarsdóttir.