Iceland review - 2013, Page 28

26 ICELAND REVIEW
sEARCh AND REsCUE
dogs with them—and from the air. “It took
less than five minutes to activate the search
and rescue force. The first teams started
searching at 2:30 am and shortly afterwards
the Coast Guard helicopter joined the
search. As there were indications that she
had gone up Galtarhryggur we thought she
might have been injured and fallen into the
shrubs below. So that is where we launched
the search, as well as searching around
Heydalur. Gradually the search area was
extended from point zero, where the miss-
ing person was last seen.”
“Around 9 pm on Friday night I changed
places. I decided to move a bit higher up
to make it easier for the people looking for
me and walked up to this big rock,” says
Lasserre. “I hoped of course that someone
was looking for me but I knew that there
was a big chance of them going some-
where else. I thought maybe the people at
Heydalur had taken the dog out and would
give it a few hours.” In spite of being in a
rather hopeless situation, Lasserre didn’t feel
scared. “I was always trying to go some-
where else in my mind. The worst thing
was that I knew that the weather forecast
was bad. I kept thinking about everybody
and how stupid it would be if I would die
now. But if it was going to happen I hoped
it would happen quickly and that my body
would be discovered soon.” Nature gave her
consolation. “I’m embarrassed to say it but
I talked to Iceland—not God—saying if I
would die here at least it would be in this
great place. It would just be a shame that
I wouldn’t be able to see any more of it.”
Finally, Lasserre got confirmation that she
was being searched for. “At 4 am I could
hear the helicopter but it was too far away.
I heard it eight times on the other side [of
the valley].” At that point, she felt absolutely
overcome. “I was all wet and just wanted
to be unconscious and fall asleep, but I was
awake the whole time. I covered my jeans
with some moss and it helped prevent-
ing the rain from penetrating them. Then
I heard the helicopter again, 300 to 500
meters away. I thought it couldn’t be true.
I waved with my hand but was too late.
Then I heard the helicopter one more time,
coming from behind the mountains, closer
to where I was sitting. I tried to get up but
fell down—my feet were numb. But I waved
with my scarf and finally they noticed me.
They found me at 11:30 pm on Saturday
night.”
“She was found seven kilometers from
point zero,” says Jón Arnar. Lasserre
had hiked several hundred meters up
Skötufjarðarheiði, which separates
Mjóifjörður and Skötufjörður, the next
fjord to the north. “The crew of a single-
engine aircraft had spotted her footprints
around 10 pm on Saturday and notified
the helicopter crew. They couldn’t track
the footprints because of the fog and went
back for reinforcement. Then the weather
cleared and they could search from the
air. She was being closed in on from four
directions. Conditions were foggy and there
was a drizzle—not very cold, though. She
was on her way to the next fjord, not far
from a well-known hiking route,” Jón Arnar
explains, commenting; “It was just as well
that she had given up and stayed in one
place. Otherwise she might have ended up
in the highlands.” According to procedure,
the search and rescue management had
discussed all possible scenarios. In one sce-
nario, Lasserre had been picked up by a car
and was on her way to Paris, in another, she
had died. “We had not reached the point of
discussing for how long we would search
for her. At the time she was found we were
planning the search from noon to midnight
the next day. We would have continued
through the night.”
“They took me onboard the helicopter.
There was a doctor there who examined
me. If my condition had been more severe
they would have taken me to Reykjavík but
I was flown to the hospital in Ísafjörður. I
had a low temperature, 34.8°C [94.6°F], and
Jón Arnar gestsson, member of search and
rescue team Björg in Suðureyri, directed
the search for Lasserre.