The employees of the contractor Ósafl in Bolungarvík, the West Fjords, had trouble with their construction equipment this week. Two machines broke down on Tuesday and on Wednesday two other machines didn’t work.

The mountains between Ísafjördur and Bolungarvík. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.

Yesterday an accident occurred when an explosion in a mine in the slope of Mt. Tradarhyrna went wrong, so rocks rained over four residential streets in the town, Morgunbladid reports.

“I thought everything was about to collapse in my house when it happened,” described resident Jóhanna Bjarnthórsdóttir. The material they were mining is intended for the construction of avalanche protection walls above the town.

No one was harmed in the accident. Most people were at work; it happened in the middle of the day. “It was lucky that no one was outside when it happened,” Bjarnthórsdóttir added. About a dozen windows were shattered.

This is the 14th time that explosions have been conducted in the mine using the same methods and there haven’t been any accidents before. “We regret this mishap and are very sorry. We have reviewed our work methods,” said Leó Jónsson, an engineer at Ósafl.

Jónsson and his team will clean up after the explosion and talk with the people who were impacted. The company’s insurance will cover the damages, he assured.

Mayor of Bolungarvík Elías Jónatansson said after a meeting between the town council’s technician and Ósafl’s representatives that their explanations were credible. “It is obvious that the company is going to take this matter seriously and resolve it as well as possible.”

Vigdís Kristín Steinthórsdóttir, a nurse, healer and hypnotist, believes hidden people, or elves, who live in the mountain were upset when the tunnel through Óshlíd was made and are causing these mishaps.

“I had been [in the mountain] before with other people who sensed the natural beings weren’t content with the disturbances to the ground and they hadn’t been asked to move. We sensed they were sad about it. I wanted for us to apologize,” Steinthórsdóttir said.

On Wednesday—a day before the mining accident—a meeting was held for that purpose with two of the contractors and seers in attendance, in addition to the local pastor, Rev. Agnes Sigurdardóttir, who performed a prayer.

Steinthórsdóttir said she had also wanted members of the town council to come too. They didn’t and she was disappointed about that.

Click here to read more about the new tunnel.