Car swept through culvert into river, leaving two tourists in hospital

Two foreign tourists are in hospital after their car left the Snæfellsnes road and was swept through a culvert into the Kleifá river, mbl.is reports.

A member of the Elliði rescue team on Snæfellsnes happened to be passing when the crash occurred and was at the scene by the time the emergency call came in, according to a post on the team’s Facebook page. Two other rescuers came directly from home, one driving a tractor.

The car left the road east of the river, near the end of a guardrail. It stopped on the river’s west bank, upstream of the road, but the force of the current carried it through a culvert. The car came to rest in deep water below the road, where the current was still strong.

Rescuers helped clear the scene and secure the area before police arrived. The river was unusually high after recent rainfall. Police have not provided further information about the tourists’ condition.