The Sys­sel­man­nen have con­cluded their inves­ti­ga­ti­on of the lethal inci­dent in August 2012 at Esmark­breen (Ymer­buk­ta) (see Spitsbergen-Svalbard.com-news of August 2012). Juri­di­cal­ly, the case is now clo­sed, as no hard evi­dence for cri­mi­nal­ly rele­vant beha­vious was found.

The acci­dent hap­pen­ed on 21 August 2012 when ice mas­ses bro­ke off and fell down from the cal­ving cliff of Esmark­breen in Ymer­buk­ta. The ice did not fall into the water, but onto dry ground. Two Zodiacs of the French tou­rist boat Pola­ris I, each with 6 pas­sen­gers and a dri­ver, were in the vici­ni­ty. A woman was hit by a pie­ce of ice and died almost imme­dia­te­ly. It could not be estab­lished if the boat was clo­ser to the gla­cier than 200 met­res, which is the mini­mum distances as recom­men­ded by the Nor­we­gi­an Polar Insti­tu­te.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen

After a long peri­od with very litt­le ice, the drift ice has now sur­roun­ded most of the eas­tern parts of the Spits­ber­gen archi­pe­la­go. It has even rea­ched Bear Island (Bjørnøya) again, much to the delight of the crew of the wea­ther sta­ti­on!

Sources: Nor­we­gi­an ice chart, Bjørnøya-Blog of the wea­ther sta­ti­on