Reynisfjara

Iceland's most dangerous beach

At the beginning of August 2025, another tragic accident occurred in Reynisfjara, resulting in the death of a 9-year-old girl from Germany. The girl was apparently caught by a wave in the back cave on the beach, then remained untouched at sea for 20 minutes before disappearing and later being recovered dead.

After the child's death, there was much discussion in Iceland about how the black beach could be made safer for tourists in order to avoid further fatal accidents here in the future, if possible.

In the last two decades, there have been a total of seven fatal accidents on this beach or in the surrounding area. Seven people have died, been caught in the sea, hit their heads on rocks, or drowned. Seven people are dead.

And yet, visitors to Reynisfjara still don't understand how dangerous this beautiful stretch of beach is.

To prevent further accidents, following the girl's fatal accident earlier this month, the traffic light system was changed so that the red light now comes on earlier, and chains and a gate were installed to make it clear that the area is closed for safety reasons when the light is red.

The gate is standing - it is closed - the red light is on - it doesn't seem to help much

Source: ruv.is

This week the barrier was used for the first time.

There were strong seas and strong winds along the coast, so access to Reynisfjara beach was sealed off as much as possible with the new access gate.

Nevertheless, many people climbed past the closed gate and ran onto the beach, some far down to the waves and even into the cave, the very cave where the girl was caught by the wave and swept to her death earlier this month.

A woman who is one of the landowners here and her husband were on site to warn the people and, if possible, to bring them back, but several of the visitors initially did not react with much understanding.

When asked on-site by media representatives why they had ignored the red light and the closed gate, the visitors simply explained that it was the only opportunity to visit this beach on their trip to Iceland, and they didn't want to miss it. Others had heard that this beach was particularly dangerous, but decided they would just quickly go and take a photo as a reminder. They were already being careful, but it was worth the risk. Seriously?!?

No, damn it, I think these people still don't understand that it's NOT worth the risk.

If you're "only" risking your own life, that might be one thing, but what about the lives of your children? What about the rescue workers who repeatedly try everything in their power to save the person, or, more realistically, at least rescue them? What about the people who, meanwhile, stand on the beach and watch someone drown?

It makes me so angry and helpless when visitors to Reynisfjara, despite the flashing red warning light and the closed gate, still don't understand why it's such a bad idea to just climb past the gate and go to the beach anyway. You're careful, it's quick, you only have this one opportunity... No, that's not how it works!

People still don't get it.

Anyone who goes to the beach under such conditions could be the next victim. That's not a good memory, and it's not worth a photo in the world!

[Translated from here.]