Little girl lay buried in avalanche until rescuer found her hand — and refused to let go for hours
Despite being trapped under the rubble and snow, she held on to hope.
Sóley Eiríksdóttir (@soleyeiriks) is one of the survivors of the deadly avalanche that hit Flateyri village, Iceland, in 1995. At the time, Sóley was 11 years old when her home was struck in the middle of the night. According to the Iceland Monitor, Soley told Morgunblaðið she was just wearing her "knickers and a T-shirt in all that snow," showing just how unexpected the avalanche was. She talked about that night on Instagram in a video posted on March 13. Sóley was trapped inside the snow for several hours before she was rescued.
'I was a bit scared'
After the unexpected avalanche buried dozens of people in their homes, the residents of Flateyri were rescued by the crew of a trawler called Pétur Jónsson RE-69 in the middle of the night. Sóley described how the man who found her buried under the rubble of her house did not leave her side and held her hand the entire time while the rescue team was working their way towards her. She described how she felt during that moment to the Iceland Monitor: "I was a bit scared. And then I heard noise in the room next to mine, and I realized that a lot of men were there. It made me a lot calmer when I realized people were there. They were going to knock down the wall between the rooms." More snow began to fall on her, but she remained calm as a hand approached her through the tunneling snow and asked for her name and age. "My left hand was icy cold, and I couldn't feel it anymore. It was all cut up by the glass from the window pane, but I couldn't feel a thing. I just smiled when they arrived because I knew everything would be okay."
Sóley realized they were lying to her
Sóley's happiness quickly turned into devastation after she was rescued. While she was being rescued, she asked about her 19-year-old sister, Svana, to which the rescuer responded by saying that she was okay. When she was safe, the rescue team asked which room her sister was sleeping in, so Sóley showed and described it to them. At the rescue center, one of her cousins came to check on her, and Sóley was doing pretty well, especially happy that she and her sister were alive. However, things started to feel odd after a while, and she started asking around for Svana until two men heard her. They looked at each other and asked if they could reveal the truth to Sóley. While they never explicitly said it out loud, it dawned on her that her sister was actually missing.
The crew finally opened up, 20 years later
Erlingur Birgir Kjartansson, one of the crew members, said that it was a bleak situation when they arrived at the village. "There was so much destruction, it was impossible to see the direction of the actual village," he told Morgunblaðið. Ragnar Ólafsson added that the only thing that kept them going was the hope that they would find someone alive buried under all that snow. There were 19 houses in the village of Flateyri. Out of 45 people, only 25 survived. The crew managed to dig up 18 of the people who had passed away. Sóley's teenage sister was found later, but she had succumbed to the freezing cold. 20 years later, Sóley, along with her six-year-old daughter Vilborg Saga, met the crew who saved her for the first time during this interview. She said, "Thank you for giving me the chance to meet you."
An A-shaped dam was constructed in 1998 on the mountain to help prevent future avalanches. Since the dams were completed, two major avalanches have occurred, but the village of Flateyri has remained protected since. People in the comments provided Sóley words of comfort and condolences. @amro_al_hamad commented, "If that man told you the truth while you were in the position you were, you would have given up easily and passed away from despair. Sorry for your sister's loss." @recomposed_roving added, "I'm sorry for your loss."
You can follow Sóley Eiríksdóttir (@soleyeiriks) on Instagram for more updates and lifestyle content.
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