Fifteen foreigners hurt as bus drives off road

A bus drove off the road in eastern Iceland yesterday, injuring almost half of the passengers on board. Fifteen foreign workers on the bus were hurt, including two people who sustained serious injuries. The accident offered near the monastery in Skriduklaustur.

A local newspaper reported that no skid marks were found and it appears that the bus drove straight off the edge of the hillside of Bessastadarfjall mountain. The bus was traveling nearly 60 kilometers per hour at the time and none of the passengers were wearing a seatbelt.

The bus was taking a group of workers from the Karahnjukar dam project to Egilsstadir for a short vacation. All members of the group were foreigners and were employed by Arnarfell, an Icelandic contractor company.

According to the head of the local authorities in Seydisfjordur, emergency crews responded to the scene and rushed injured passengers to hospitals in Reykjavík, Akureyri and Neskaupstadur