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Two houses in the rural Hvalfjarðarsveit region in West Iceland were evacuated for safety reasons yesterday before the Special Forces of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police and Bomb Squad of the Icelandic Coast Guard removed explosives from a container outside one of the houses.
Archive photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
They rushed to the scene after being notified of the around 300 kilos of dynamite and other explosives being kept in the container. The explosives had become damp, which makes them particularly dangerous, according to visir.is.
Removing and eliminating the explosives proved successful. The police in Borgarnes are now investigating the incident.
In other explosive news on visir.is, firefighters believe a firebomb was narrowly avoided after a house in Hrafnagil outside Akureyri caught fire yesterday.
The paneling in the ceiling had caught fire because of a pipe from a fireplace. The fire was quickly extinguished but afterwards it turned out that significant heat and smoke remained in the attic, creating conditions for a firebomb.
An explosion was likely prevented by a neighbor, who had sprayed water onto the roof of the house with a gardening hose, cooling it somewhat, before the fire brigade arrived.
ESA
Iceland’s northernmost island is no longer one island. In a recent surveillance excursion to the Kolbeinsey, the Icelandic Coast Guard discovered that the island is now divided in two.
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Iceland is among the top five OECD-countries where immigrants help to boost the economy and increase nation-wide production by approximately 1 percent, according to a new report from the OECD.
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Neither Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson nor Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir have responded to Edward Snowden’s request for a political asylum in Iceland, as spokesperson for Wikileaks Kristinn Hrafnsson wrote in a letter published in Fréttablaðið today.
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The first fin whale to be hunted in Iceland this season was killed by the crew of whaling vessel Hvalur 8 yesterday evening. The vessel, which set out yesterday along with Hvalur 9, is expected to unload the catch today.
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The 2013 June-July issue of Iceland Review is out. Themed ‘We Are Young’ the magazine celebrates the arrival of summer by interviewing young energetic Icelanders who excel in art, sports, business and politics—and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest PM in the republic’s history and the world’s youngest ruling state leader. Click here to take a look at a selection of the current issue and here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
amiina
The road to Höfn, a 1,690-person harbor town by the fjord Hornafjörður, is lined with reindeer. Whole herds of the wild horned animals rest peacefully on withered pastures, grace next to sheep and horses and bounce along the road. Soon, Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the region’s biggest attraction, comes into view. Looming over Höfn, its outlet glaciers flow down from the mountains on which the bright white icecap rests.
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Sin Fang will celebrate the release of his third album with a release concert in Iðnó on June 12. Flowers was released in February by Morr Music and has been well received by music enthusiasts and critics alike. The concert will be supported by Vök, this year’s winners of the Icelandic Music Experiments.
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