American tourists rescued after having picnic on drifting iceberg

A group of five American tourists have been rescued from a drifting iceberg where they were having a picnic - complete with a table and folding chairs.

NBC News reports that the group set up their picnic during a trip to Iceland's Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon, but the ice that they were picnicking on broke off from land as they were sitting on it, and began to drift into the lagoon.

According to The Iceland Review, one member of the group managed to jump to shore before the ice drifted too far, and they called for help.

Páll Sigurour Vignisson, who was part of the rescue team, told NBC News: "The ice was solid when they got there, but when they set the table and chairs the wind changed and the next minute they were blown some 10-15 metres into the lagoon.

"The scene was comical - they were sitting on the chairs around a table, on a piece of floating ice."

He added that the group were, "not at all scared, pretty calm, laughing and joking about the whole thing, despite that they had been stuck floating for about an hour."

But he warned that the group were in real danger. He said: "The iceberg could have cracked or flipped over any minute, throwing them into very deep, almost frozen waters. They just didn't realise the risks they were running. They thought they were doing something real cool."

He says that he now hopes that authorities will erect signs warning visitors not to have picnics in the area.

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