Dawn
Active member
American tourist Scott Stevens and his daughter Wylde, 10, believe they were moments away from being killed in Iceland’s cave collapse on Sunday.
Stevens, visiting from Austin, Texas, was taking photos of his daughter in the Breiðamerkurjökull ice cave and almost stayed a few extra minutes to take pictures with an additional lens.
“I was cognizant of the other group behind me, and I didn’t want to hold everyone up, because it’s kind of a single file line. So I thought it would kind of be rude for me to make everyone stand there where I’m switching lenses, so I opted not to do so, and then we just walked out,” he told CNN in an interview.
About a minute after they left the cave, there was a loud “boom” and they heard the cave “break.”
“It felt like if you were to actually grab that other lens, then you’d 100% be dead right now … We’d be dead. We were standing in that exact spot,” Wylde Stevens said. “I’m trying not to – I don’t want to think about it.”
One American man was killed, and an American woman was injured in the cave collapse. A group of 23 tourists from several countries were exploring the attraction, located in the southeast of the country, when the incident occurred, according to public broadcaster RUV.
“She was very concerned that I would, I would have died taking her picture … I guess it felt like it could have very easily been us,” Scott Stevens said about his daughter. “And you know, I was thinking of that poor guy. He’s just here on his holiday, and I’m sure he thought he’d be going home today or tomorrow or the next day. And you know, he’s not going home.”
The elder Stevens said there were two separate groups visiting the cave. He was in the first group and the deceased and injured were in the second, he said.
The groups traveled together, but each had about a dozen people with separate tour guides.
Stevens, visiting from Austin, Texas, was taking photos of his daughter in the Breiðamerkurjökull ice cave and almost stayed a few extra minutes to take pictures with an additional lens.
“I was cognizant of the other group behind me, and I didn’t want to hold everyone up, because it’s kind of a single file line. So I thought it would kind of be rude for me to make everyone stand there where I’m switching lenses, so I opted not to do so, and then we just walked out,” he told CNN in an interview.
About a minute after they left the cave, there was a loud “boom” and they heard the cave “break.”
“It felt like if you were to actually grab that other lens, then you’d 100% be dead right now … We’d be dead. We were standing in that exact spot,” Wylde Stevens said. “I’m trying not to – I don’t want to think about it.”
One American man was killed, and an American woman was injured in the cave collapse. A group of 23 tourists from several countries were exploring the attraction, located in the southeast of the country, when the incident occurred, according to public broadcaster RUV.
“She was very concerned that I would, I would have died taking her picture … I guess it felt like it could have very easily been us,” Scott Stevens said about his daughter. “And you know, I was thinking of that poor guy. He’s just here on his holiday, and I’m sure he thought he’d be going home today or tomorrow or the next day. And you know, he’s not going home.”
The elder Stevens said there were two separate groups visiting the cave. He was in the first group and the deceased and injured were in the second, he said.
The groups traveled together, but each had about a dozen people with separate tour guides.
