Two foreign tourists have died in a traffic accident on the Ring Road in southeast of the country by Vatnajökull National Park on Friday morning. Two passenger vehicles collided on Route 1 near the cut-off to Skaftafell. Two passengers were pronounced dead at the scene and six others were airlifted by Coast Guard helisopter to Fossvogur hospital in Reykjavík.
The vehicles were travelling in opposite directions and collided head on. It is not known at this time what caused the crash. South Iceland police officer Sveinn Kristján Rúnarsson told the national broadcaster that temperatures in the area have been hovering around freezing, so roads are icy.
The ring road was closed at the point of the accident, but a detour has been opened to allow traffic to pass safely. Search and rescue teams responded to the collision, in addition to the Coast Guard helicopter, police, ambulances and the fire brigade.
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