The search for a man who fell into Gullfoss waterfall on Wednesday will be scaled back over the weekend, according to the South Iceland police, reports RÚV. Police do not believe the man is still alive.
“Naturally, it’s not possible to maintain an intensive search for days and weeks on end when hopes [of finding the man alive] dwindle,” stated Þorgrímur Óli Sigurðsson, deputy chief of police in South Iceland.
In general, formal searches do not last long in cases like this. Þorgrímur explained that search efforts are intensive in the first few days, but are subsequently scaled back when it becomes clear that a search has turned into a recovery mission for a body.
Police have now tentatively identified the missing man as an asylum seeker who came to Iceland some time ago. This is based on an investigation of a car they found left in the parking lot at Gullfoss on Wednesday night.