Two died and a third is badly injured after lightning on the mountain

Relatives have been informed and will be taken care of, the police in Møre og Romsdal report at 18.56.

– Just after kl. 17 we received a message from Melshornet about a tour group of three people. They were badly injured. She who reported feared that those who went with her had died. It turned out that they were, says Borge Amdam, operations manager in Møre og Romsdal police district.

Violent thunderstorm

Amdam met the press outside Ålesund police station on Sunday night after the tragic incident.

The police launched a rescue operation in which volunteers, an air ambulance and a rescue helicopter contributed. It was an air ambulance that first arrived at the scene under demanding conditions.

– Between the showers, the air ambulance got up and then picked up an injured woman, as well as one of the deceased, says Amdam.

Shortly afterwards, the rescue helicopter retrieved the last person. All three have been transported to Ålesund Hospital.

According to Amdam, the rescue helicopter was on the scene shortly after the message arrived.

– They had to take some safety assessments along the way. It was a violent thunderstorm, he says about the action.

Not from Hareid

The three in the tour are women, but not from Hareid. More than this, the police will not say anything about now, for the sake of relatives. Amdam will also not comment on age or relationship between those involved, other than that they were a tour guide.

– How and where exactly this happened, the police will return to. As of now, we know that they were, so to speak, at the top when this happened, says Amdam.

Local police follow up on what has happened on the spot. At the hospital, the relatives are taken care of by Hareid municipality’s crisis team. Priests and police are also present, Amdam states.

The police will not go out with more information about those involved on Sunday night, he states.

– Dramatic weather conditions

Sunday was a long glorious sun and calm weather conditions, before the weather abruptly changed and there was thunder, lightning and heavy rain showers.

– It was quite dramatic weather conditions on Sunday night. We had many rescue operations around Søre Sunnmøre and in Ålesund. It is unusual that there is such intense thunder and lightning weather here on Sunnmøre. We are not used to dealing with such intense conditions as this, says the operations manager.

On Sunday, the police issued a warning against staying on the mountain during the storm.

– We went out with this warning after this incident happened, says Amdam. On Sunday evening, the storm has calmed down and the police have also ended a rescue operation at Sukkertoppen in Ålesund. Everyone has been brought down from the mountain.

– This came with a strength that I think surprised most people who live here in Møre og Romsdal, says Amdam about the weather change.

Rapporteur: Deeply tragic

The crisis team in Hareid municipality has been established, says mayor Bernt Brandal on Sunday at 19.15.

– This is a deeply tragic situation. The crisis team has been established and we are meeting now and planning how we will follow this up in the best possible way, says the mayor.

Hareid municipality has posted a press release about the incident on its website.

– This is a deeply tragic event. I have great compassion for the relatives, says the rapporteur.

– The weather has been violent today, and it has changed violently quickly. No one could predict that it could go like this, Brandal says.

Danger warning

Earlier on Sunday, the police issued a warning in which they asked all hikers to get down from the mountain and to safety. Several ongoing rescue operations and emergency reports were then notified.

– Everyone who is on a mountain hike in the county, is asked to get down and in safety. More reports of people in need on the mountain. Heavy thunderstorms and rain are coming, police wrote on Twitter at 5.30pm.

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute sent out a yellow warning of a lot of lightning and thunder in connection with rain showers in Vestland, Møre og Romsdal and Sør-Trøndelag on Sunday afternoon and evening.

– There will be large local differences in intensity. Some places will not get thunderstorms, meteorologists write in the forecast.

In the hour between 2 pm and 3 pm on Sunday afternoon, lightning struck more than 3,000 times in southern Norway, NRK reports. In six hours, more than 13,000 were registered, according to the Meteorological Institute’s lightning radar.

Moderate mountain hike

Melshornet has a height above sea level of 668 meters and is described as a moderately difficult mountain hike with panoramic views.

To the west are Ulstein and the islands in Herøy, in the north Breisundet and Nordøyane, while Storfjorden towards Ørskog in the east and Vartdalsfjella and Sunnmørsalpene to the south.

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