Posted by Max Naylor on Saturday, November 12, 2011
Daniel Markus Hoij lay dead when the search and rescue team discovered him on the glacier at 11:55 today, at an altitude of 600m. More than 300 search and rescue workers were taking part in the search at any one time, 80 of which were on the glacier itself. Over the past few days, the search has been particularly intensive and over 500 people from ICE-SAR have participated since it began on Wednesday evening.
Hoij had contacted the search and rescue team on his mobile phone whilst on the glacier, which ran out of battery during in the phone call. The conversation lasted for 3 minutes 58 seconds, and emergency services were unable to get through to the phone again. Hoij was said to be particularly shaken during the call, and was unable to give any exact information on his location.
Residents and companies in the area have been supporting the search and rescue team. The women’s institutes Fjallkonan, Eygló and Freyja opened a rest and food centre for the workers in a schoolhouse in Skógar which was open around the clock.
The institutes opened the centre as a way of showing gratitude for the help ICE-SAR has provided during recent volcanic eruptions. Hotels and guesthouses have also opened their doors for the workers, companies have donated food and the Red Cross in Hvolsvöllur oversaw logistics in the search area.
ICE-SAR would like to register their gratitude to all of those who came to help in the operation. The Hvolsvöllur police force would also like to register its gratitude to the ICE-SAR team, Icelandic Coastguard workers and all those who have worked around the clock over the past few days. Conditions during the search were particularly bad and required specialist knowledge of those who participated.
Source and image: mbl.is (1), mbl.is (2)
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