Concrete truck plunges from Þjórsá bridge, Coast Guard airlifts driver, remote crossing exposes Iceland road risk

• The truck left the bridge near Sultartangavirkjun around 7pm, with the driver alone in the vehicle.
• A helicopter from the Icelandic Coast Guard reached the scene first and lifted the driver from the side of the truck.
• Police in South Iceland said the driver had hypothermia but no other injuries.
• The crash happened by major hydropower infrastructure in an area where distance and weather can turn a traffic accident into an air rescue.

A concrete truck went off a bridge over the Þjórsá river near Sultartangavirkjun, the Sultartangi power station, at around 7pm on Tuesday evening. According to RÚV, Iceland's public broadcaster, reports, the driver was alone in the vehicle when it left the bridge.

The Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter was called out and reached the site before other responders. Rescue crews lifted the driver into the helicopter from the side of the truck and flew him to Reykjavík for treatment. Police in South Iceland said he had suffered hypothermia but no other injuries.

On one level, the incident is a single-vehicle crash on a remote road. The response shows something larger about Iceland's interior routes: a bridge accident near major energy infrastructure can quickly depend on air support rather than ordinary road access. Distance does the rest. A driver in cold water or exposed on a river crossing does not wait for a long convoy from the nearest town.

The location matters. Sultartangi sits in a sparsely populated area tied to Iceland's hydropower system, where heavy vehicles, service traffic and river crossings meet roads that can be exposed to wind, ice and fast-changing conditions. When a concrete truck goes over the edge there, the first question is not congestion but access: who can get there, how fast, and with what equipment.

RÚV's report did not say what caused the truck to leave the bridge, and no broader safety review of the crossing was announced on Tuesday evening. For now, the known facts are narrower: one truck, one driver, one helicopter, and a transfer to Reykjavík after exposure to the cold on a bridge over one of Iceland's largest rivers.

Källor: RÚV