The roadworker fell into a huge crack caused by last month’s volcano in Iceland (Picture: AFP/GETTY)
A road worker is missing after falling into a huge crevasse created by a volcano eruption in Iceland.
The man was filling cracks caused by last month’s volcanic activity in the town of Grindavak when the accident happened on Wednesday.
Hundreds joined a mission to find him, but the search had to be stopped shortly before midnight on Thursday because of rock fall, reports Sky News.
Ulfar Ludviksson, the police chief in South Iceland, told local media that the rockfall meant they could no longer guarantee the safety of those working down in the crevasse.
It’s believed work was being done to enlarge the opening, which could only fit two people at a time.
During the rescue operation, Mr Ludviksson told state TV RUV the situation was ‘very difficult and demanding’.
‘It’s deep down. This runs tens of metres down to the bottom. There is water far below this work area where rescuers are working,’ he explained.
Workers repairing damage to roads in Grindavik (Picture: Kantarci/AFP via Getty Images)
Magma flows on a hill near Grindavik on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula (Picture: Icelandic Meteorological Office/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
The man had been filling the crevasses when the accident happened (Picture: Halldor Kolbeins/AFP via Getty Images)
‘There are two men who go down in a basket and stay down for about 10 minutes. Then they come up and the other two take over.’
Before the rockfall setback he said teams would look for the man until they found him.
Grindavik sits near the epicentre of the Fagradalsfjall volcano and almost 4,000 people in the town had to be evacuated when it erupted in December.
Plumes of lava were sent nearly 100ft into the air and rivers of molten rock oozed for several kilometres.
Thousands of earthquakes had been recorded in the area in the weeks before, a potential sign a volcano is set to blow.
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