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Emergency services were notified by the Northern Norway Main Rescue Center that an avalanche had occurred in Borgdalen on Jan Mayen at 4:40 PM on Saturday afternoon.
Three employees of the Armed Forces station in Jan Mayen were on a pleasure trip when they were hit by an avalanche at around 1:50 pm on Saturday, the Armed Forces write in a press release.
– Three people were traveling in the area when the landslide occurred. Two people were carried away by the avalanche, but the third escaped and was notified of the station in Jan Mayen, operations manager Remi Johansen in the Nordland police district tells NRK.
It soon became clear that two people were missing.
Search teams from the Jan Mayen Armed Forces base quickly embarked on a rescue operation.
The disappeared were found in 1715.
– Unfortunately, the two missing were found dead, says Johansen.
The dead are civilian employees of the Armed Forces and relatives have been notified.
The third person to escape the avalanche was slightly injured.
A small and dense environment
The Armed Forces have their own station in Jan Mayen with 14 employees, in addition to which four meteorologists are stationed there. They are there six months at a time.
– They are close and close companions who are there at all times. These deaths affect everyone in Jan Mayen now, says Johansen.
Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen received the sad message and sent his thoughts to family and the community.
– Now my thoughts and my deepest condolences go first of all to the family, to the small and close community of Jan Mayen, but also to my friends and colleagues in the Armed Forces. It hurts when such tragedies hit us, says Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen.
Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen
Photo: Jil Yngland / Jil Yngland
Defense chief General Eirik Kristoffersen received the message about the accident with regret.
– I have received the sad message that two of us lost our lives in a landslide in Jan Mayen. Our people do important work there every day, on Norwegian soil, but still far from home. My thoughts go to the relatives and friends of the deceased and his closest companions. All of us in the Armed Forces think of you and feel with you in this sad moment, says Kristoffersen.
Defense chief General Eirik Kristoffersen received the message about the accident with regret.
Photo: Eirik Veum / NRK
Jan Mayen is located in the Norwegian Sea, about 1,000 kilometers west of Norway, north of Iceland towards the Greenland Sea. Jan Mayen covers almost 380 square kilometers and has been in Norway since 1930.
