British Indian family in freak Iceland crash, 3 dead
London, Dec 28: Seven members of a UK-based Indian-origin family were involved in a freak accident in Iceland when their SUV crashed off a bridge on Thursday, killing two women and a child.
Four others, including two British Indian brothers and two young children, remain in critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Iceland's capital Reykjavik.
The family was reportedly on holiday in the Nordic island country when their hired Toyota Land Cruiser slammed through a railing while crossing a high single-lane bridge at Skeidararsandur, a vast sand plain in the southern part of the country.
Icelandic Police have only identified the victims as British, with their names to be released on formal identification.
Local media reports have named the deceased women as sisters-in-law Rajshree and Khushboo Laturia and an infant girl.
Rajshree's husband, Shreeraj, and his brother Supreme remain in hospital with two young children.
The Indian Ambassador to Iceland, T Armstrong Changsan, visited the injured at Landspitali hospital, where he spoke to hospital staff and the chaplain before contacting family members in India.
He confirmed that three people died, one of them a young child, and said the other family members were in a "stable" condition in hospital on Thursday night.
"It is a very tragic case. A group of close family friends have arrived from London to be by their side and their brother and parents from Maharashtra are organising their travel from India," he told PTI.
"The Indian embassy is trying to expedite the travel arrangements and we remain in constant touch with the local authorities," he said.
He later issued a message on Twitter thanking Iceland President, Gudni Th. Johannesson, for his call to convey his "deepest condolences".
"Icelandic authorities have assured visa on arrival for relatives from India," he said.
The holidaymakers from the UK included two couples in their thirties and three children, aged around 10 months old, eight and nine. While the youngest girl was killed on the spot, the other children remain in hospital.
According to local reports, the two adults killed in the crash were the wives of the two British Indian brothers.
Chief Superintendent of South Iceland Police Sveinn Kristjan Runarsso confirmed the four survivors have been taken to hospital with serious injuries and that "we haven't been able to talk to them about what happened".
The crash site was described as "horrifying" by tour guide Adolf Erlingsson, who was among the first on the scene with two police officers.
"The car was totally smashed up after flying off the bridge and plunging down there," he told Icelandic radio station Bylgjan.
"The car seemed to have hit the ground many metres from where it stopped. We struggled getting everyone out," he said.
Police officers have said that humidity could have made the surface slippery, but it remains unclear what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle.
Temperatures were around freezing at the time of the accident, which occurred hours before the North Atlantic island saw sunrise at nearly 11.30 am local time.
The vehicle the family were travelling in slammed through a railing while crossing a high single-lane bridge over the Nps river at Skeidararsandur.
The bridge is described as "really narrow" and the vehicle plummeted on to the dry riverbed below and landed on its roof.
Iceland's national ring road, also known as Route 1, is popular among tourists from around the world and the site of the crash was near Skaftafell in the south-east of the country, which is made up of mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and beaches.
Of the 18 people who have died in traffic accidents in Iceland this year, half of them have been foreign nationals.
The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are supporting the family of several British nationals who were involved in a road traffic accident in Iceland and are in close contact with the Icelandic authorities."
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Assam polls: Cong announces first list of 42 candidates, Gaurav to contest from Jorhat
Guwahati (PTI): The opposition Congress on Tuesday took the lead in announcing its first list of 42 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Assam, with it comprising both sitting MLAs and former ministers, and also new faces, including sons of three prominent politicians.
The party's chief ministerial candidate and state president Gaurav Gogoi will contest from the prestigious Jorhat assembly constituency, currently held by BJP's Hitendra Nath Goswami.
The Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha will make his first electoral foray for the assembly.
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Gogoi is currently the party MP from the Jorhat parliamentary constituency and previously represented Kaliabor twice before it was reconstituted during the delimitation exercise in the state.
The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia, will contest from the family stronghold of Nazira, which he has represented since 2016. His father, former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, and his mother, Hemoprava Saikia, previously represented the constituency.
Three sitting MLAs -- Nandita Das from Hajo-Sualkuchi, Diganta Barman from Barkhetry and Nurul Huda from Rupohihat -- have also been included in the list.
Das, a two-time MLA, had earlier contested from Boko but following the delimitation exercise in the state, she has been shifted to Hajo-Sualkuchi while Barman and Huda will contest from the same seats they represented in the current assembly.
Former minister and state Congress president Ripun Bora will contest from Barchalla while another former minister, Ajit Singh, will contest from Udharbond constituency in Barak Valley.
Former minister and Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukan, a four-time MLA till 2016, will contest from Naharkatia in Upper Assam.
Tanzil Hussain, son of Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain, will contest from Samaguri where he had lost to BJP's Diplu Ranjan Sarmah in the 2024 by-elections which was necessitated following the election of the senior Hussain to Lok Sabha.
Prateek Bordoloi, son of Nagaon MP Prodyut Bordoloi, will contest the Margherita seat which was represented by his father thrice since 2001.
Former five-time MP and prominent tea tribe leader Paban Singh Ghatowar's son Pranjal Ghatowar will contest from the Chabua-Lahowal seat.
Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress president Mira Borthakur, who had unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary polls from Gauhati, has been given the ticket for the prestigious Dispur constituency.
Former BJP MLA Ashok Sarma, who was denied ticket by the ruling party in 2021 and went on to join the Congress in 2024, will contest from his previous Nalbari seat.
Another former BJP MLA and Deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar, who joined the Congress in 2024, will contest from Sonai constituency in Barak Valley.
Former AGP MLA Satyabrat Kalita, who joined the Congress in September 2025, will contest from Kamalpur seat.
Other prominent faces in the list include former Congress MLAs Durga Bhumij from Doomdooma, Binanda Kumar Saikia from Sipahjhar and Bubul Das from Jagiroad (SC) constituency.
The Congress is a leading part of the unified opposition alliance, 'Asom Sonmilito Morcha', formed to challenge the ruling BJP, and has entered into seat-sharing arrangements with the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and the Left, but is yet to finalise it with Raijor Dal.
Presently, the ruling BJP's strength in the 126-member assembly is 64, while its allies AGP has nine MLAs, UPPL has seven and BPF has three members.
In the opposition camp, the Congress has 26 MLAs, AIUDF has 15 members and CPI(M) has one MLA. There is an Independent legislator as well.
