"Fortunately, we were quick to find him"
The man who was caught in the avalanche east of Mt Höskuldsvatnshnjúkur yesterday. Photo/Sent to mbl.is
Things went better than expected when a man was caught in an avalanche east of Mt Höskuldsvatnshnúkur 10 km from Húsavík yesterday.
Six men on snowmobiles were on the scene when the avalanche fell. One of them was caught by the flood and was soon found. His companion's first job was to secure his breathing as his helmet was filled with snow.
A fairly large avalanche and quite a lot of snow
“There were six snowmobiles in the area in bright and sunny weather. I was a little far away and watched it happen. It was quite a big avalanche and quite a lot of snow. Two of the sledges started the avalanche and one of the men was caught under the snow. We saw where he was when he fell under the avalanche. He went many meters with the flood but fortunately, we were quick to find him. It’s also helped that he had an avalanche bag on his back that raised him a little,” Hreinn Hjartarson tells mbl.is, but he believes the man was at a depth of one meter.
Things went better than expected because the men saw where the man was caught by the avalanche, even though the snow brought him down many meters.
He says that the man’s helmet was filled with snow and he believes that the man wouldn’t have lived long had help not arrived soon. Hjartarson says that the man has escaped from the avalanche relatively safely but will probably have some bruises on his body.
“He came out of this mostly unharmed but we had to tow his snowmobile to town since it was damaged,” he concludes.
