Calls For Urgent Action After Fatal Rockfall

A fatal accident occurred on Monday when rocks fell from Steinafjall onto a car on Suðurlandsvegur near Holtsós under Eyjafjöll, shortly before 13:00, reports Vísir. Three foreign tourists were in the car. One of them died, while the other two sustained minor injuries.

The accident happened just west of Holtsós, near the home of Ingveldur Anna Sigurðardóttir, a resident of Varmahlíð and a substitute MP, who travels the road daily. She says it is heartbreaking that a woman has now lost her life due to a rockfall that could have been prevented, as calls for action have repeatedly been made to the Road Administration.

“I drive here back and forth every day, sometimes in the middle of winter. And in the afternoons, I sometimes look up at the mountain and think to myself, ‘When will the next rock fall?’ Well, it happened yesterday, and now there’s a woman who won’t be going home, which is incredibly tragic. My thoughts are, of course, with her family and friends,” says Ingveldur Anna.

Rocks frequently fall from the slopes, especially at this time of year. School buses drive along this road at least six times a day.

“My mum crashed into a rock two or three years ago, in complete darkness on her way to work. You always think about these things. There’s a seven-year-old girl who leaves my yard every morning to go to school — when will the next rock fall on a car?”

Ingveldur says there are several possible solutions. One is to move the road lower, another is to dig out a ditch so that falling rocks would be caught in it.

“Or to build some kind of protective barrier where the slope is closest to the road.”

She hopes the Road Administration will take action.

“It always seems like something has to happen, someone has to die, before we get improvements. Are our lives not worth as much as those in Reykjavík and other densely populated areas?”