“We can’t do this again next year.”

“We are really scared, we are really shocked that I am in such a bad mood. If I hadn’t had to adjust myself because of the children, I would have collapsed, but I am trying to stay calm for them,” said Guðrún Valdimarsdóttir, who was standing by the fence with her two children. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured in the second collision, which happened at around 3:00 p.m.

“It was a huge dump truck driving through a bunch of steel fences that were bolted together and they were falling apart like a piece of paper. It was iron fences coming apart in all directions and stone pillars falling over there. There was a lot of commotion going on.”

When a news agency spoke to the Assistant Inspector General of Police around 6pm this evening, the case was yet to be referred to the police.

Too narrow for large vehicles

Guðrún said it was clear that the route around Gleðigån needed to be changed because the bend was narrow and difficult for drivers of larger vehicles. She was leaning against the fence when the first collision occurred so that her seven- and ten-year-old children could see the carriage.

“I was standing behind them and it was crowded and people were getting really close to us. All of a sudden you see the carriage has reached the door and I managed to pull the kids back and one of the doors completely collapsed.”

“Everyone was a bit nervous but nothing happened. It wasn’t very dramatic the first time. Everyone managed to pull the child back and the adults were confident so it was fine. There were staff on site, the driver stopped the car, it was no big deal,” added Guðrún.

After that, she was more cautious but remained where she was so the children could continue to follow the parade.

“I will take better care of them and I will keep a close eye on them. There will also be two big trucks and a bus and everything will be fine,” said Guðrún.

Sharp poles flew in all directions

After the last accident, Gudrun made sure that parade organizers were informed of the incident and advised drivers to be more careful. Then came an orange truck, the last one before the carriage of musician Pál Óskar Hjálmtýsson, and as per tradition, people were full of anticipation.

“It happened so fast and all of a sudden he hit the fence and it just stuck in every direction and everything was chaos. He was running like hell and I managed to pull the kids back but I couldn’t get much because there were so many people behind us so we couldn’t really back anything up. There were just so many people and everyone was screaming.”

People were in a panic, and the coachman stopped the carriage for a while and continued on his way without going out to check the situation first.

“He was taking down more fences and big stone pillars on the Sklavodur trail. He took note of it. My seven-year-old daughter was a bit small, she was in the front and I managed to pull her out of the way so that she didn’t actually fall under the railing or the pillar,” Guðrún said.

“I’m not a very dramatic person by nature, but it’s surprising that no one was seriously hurt there. It was a hair’s breadth away from those bars hitting someone, or crushing them underneath, or the carriage crushing them.”

The parade is no longer worthy of its name

Gudrun said the distance was so close, she was surprised the driver didn’t stop after the initial collision.

“It was hard to enjoy the walk. Then Pali came too and I was shocked, I thought there were more people around me.”

Guðrún’s husband, who was standing on the other side of the street, also experienced the change in the group atmosphere during the filming.

“This is amazing. It seems like very few workers were following this carriage in particular. You’ve seen people walking beside it before, it wasn’t going with this one. The driver didn’t stop, there were all these police officers first. Somehow no one did anything about it. Someone ran over, broke the fence and dragged them away,” Gudrun said.

She added that the children were well aware of the dangers and were shocked after the incident.

“My little one started crying. Somehow in all this there was a squeeze between people and with it came the noise,” said Gudrun, who demanded the improvements.

“We can’t have this happen next year. This is a very dangerous situation.”