“I got the card back with a message that I should take it to the graveyard,” says Ekaterina Naryshkina, who finally noticed on Tuesday morning that the postcard she had been trying to deliver had actually been sent in 1969.

The undelivered postcard ended up back on her desk again on Tuesday morning and she did not recognise the recipient’s name. “I asked our assistant to take a look at it and it turned out that the recipient, Hannes Astradsson, had died 30 years ago.”

Naryshkina decided she would discuss the matter with her husband, because he has lived in the neighbourhood since childhood, to see if he recognised the name. “He eventually found out, after several roundabouts and hurdles. The woman, who wrote the card in the name of her young son, was also long-dead. But the little boy, Eggert, is now around 45 years-old and lives in Sweden,” she told DV.

It is not known why or how the postcard, which was sent from overseas, ended up being lost in the post for 42 years.

This is how Marta Birna Baldursdottir describes her trip with Iceland Express, which she calls one of the longest nights of her life and those of the other passengers waiting to get home to Iceland from New York.

“The plane was turned right around and all the passengers had to alight and wait at the departures gate.” There were two or three staff members on hand with only very limited information available for the passengers, Baldursdottir told DV.

“We were just left there waiting with no information. There was nothing open to start with until one shop opened up selling fizzy drinks and confectionery – but no food,” she added.

Passengers were finally given blankets at 02.00 and able to try to rest on the floor – a full three hours after passengers left the aircraft. No information was forthcoming from Iceland Express and the crew remained aboard the plane.

People were trying hard to keep their spirits up; but Baldursdottir said that became increasingly difficult. There were several children on the flight who had a terrible night – especially a two year-old girl who needed some milk, which was not available.

The report by the Althingi investigation committee will be delayed by a further two to three weeks while committee members go over the more than 500 pages of answers received from the 12 current and former public officials formally invited to reply to committee accusations before publication of the report.

The report was originally scheduled for release last autumn and then delayed until the beginning of February, then the beginning of March and now, again, until two to three weeks into March, RUV reports. This time, the committee has not committed itself to a specific date.

A statement from the committee stated that the answers received represent the final materials needed and all that remains to do is to correlate the findings and print the extensive document. At this stage it is already logistically impossible to release it before the 11th March.