Couple who survived head-on crash in Iceland get engaged in intensive care
- 11 days ago
A British couple who survived a head-on car crash while on holiday in Iceland became engaged in their hospital beds after nurses reunited them in intensive care.
Zak Nelson, 28, and Elliot Griffiths, 26 were rescued from their smashed hire car after a horror collision with another vehicle on April 19 in Revykjavik, Iceland.
Nurses wheeled their hospital beds together in the intensive care unit together Elliot popped the question to his partner of one-and-a-half years, Zak.
Zak, a First Bus marketing executive, said: "We didn't know whether the other one was alive - the last time we saw each other was in the ambulance.
"In his relief, Elliot said 'I never want to be apart from you again, will you marry me?'
"It is a reason to us to stay alive and a reason to pull through."
Elliot and Zak, who met in Norwich, Norfolk in September 2022, had been planning their holiday to the Iceland for months before they arrived on April 19.
The couple had planned to drive around the famous 'Ring Road' - an 820 mile loop of Iceland's most iconic sites.
After hiring a car, the pair drove down towards the Blue Lagoon and then headed east to see geysers and a volcanic crater with an ice lake at the bottom of it.
On April 19, just a few hours after arriving, Zak was driving along the Ring Road, close to Selfoss, with Elliot in the passenger seat when the crash unfolded.
Zak said: "One of the cars coming the other way came across the white line and hit us head on.
"It was so quick - there was nothing to be done.
"I remember seeing the car, thinking 'we're going to crash', and then trying to steer out of the way."
The couple's hire car and a car travelling in the opposite direction collided head-on at a speed Zak estimates was 90 kilometres an hour (55mph).
The hire car flipped onto its right hand side, leaving Elliot against the ground and Zak held upright in his seat above thanks to his seatbelt.
Zak added: "Elliot told me the first thing I said afterwards was: ‘well there's the deposit gone and that’s the holiday over’.
"I truly think the seatbelts saved our lives."
Zak was able to take his seatbelt off and crawled to the back of the car, looking up to see the faces of passer-by's who had stopped to help.
He crawled out of the boot and believes Elliot was able to follow before they were both rushed to Landspítali University Hospital Hringbraut, in Reykjavik by ambulance.
During their brief reunion in intensive care, nurses pushed the couple's hospital beds together so they could comfort each other.
Elliot, a blood donation national facilitator, proposed to Zak before being rushed off for emergency surgery to treat abdominal internal bleeding.
Zak suffered from severe bruising on his hips, where his seatbelt was on his chest and his smartwatch smashed in the impact, embedding glass into his hands.
Elliot had his emergency surgery for internal bleeding mere minutes after he popped the question.
Zak Nelson, 28, and Elliot Griffiths, 26 were rescued from their smashed hire car after a horror collision with another vehicle on April 19 in Revykjavik, Iceland.
Nurses wheeled their hospital beds together in the intensive care unit together Elliot popped the question to his partner of one-and-a-half years, Zak.
Zak, a First Bus marketing executive, said: "We didn't know whether the other one was alive - the last time we saw each other was in the ambulance.
"In his relief, Elliot said 'I never want to be apart from you again, will you marry me?'
"It is a reason to us to stay alive and a reason to pull through."
Elliot and Zak, who met in Norwich, Norfolk in September 2022, had been planning their holiday to the Iceland for months before they arrived on April 19.
The couple had planned to drive around the famous 'Ring Road' - an 820 mile loop of Iceland's most iconic sites.
After hiring a car, the pair drove down towards the Blue Lagoon and then headed east to see geysers and a volcanic crater with an ice lake at the bottom of it.
On April 19, just a few hours after arriving, Zak was driving along the Ring Road, close to Selfoss, with Elliot in the passenger seat when the crash unfolded.
Zak said: "One of the cars coming the other way came across the white line and hit us head on.
"It was so quick - there was nothing to be done.
"I remember seeing the car, thinking 'we're going to crash', and then trying to steer out of the way."
The couple's hire car and a car travelling in the opposite direction collided head-on at a speed Zak estimates was 90 kilometres an hour (55mph).
The hire car flipped onto its right hand side, leaving Elliot against the ground and Zak held upright in his seat above thanks to his seatbelt.
Zak added: "Elliot told me the first thing I said afterwards was: ‘well there's the deposit gone and that’s the holiday over’.
"I truly think the seatbelts saved our lives."
Zak was able to take his seatbelt off and crawled to the back of the car, looking up to see the faces of passer-by's who had stopped to help.
He crawled out of the boot and believes Elliot was able to follow before they were both rushed to Landspítali University Hospital Hringbraut, in Reykjavik by ambulance.
During their brief reunion in intensive care, nurses pushed the couple's hospital beds together so they could comfort each other.
Elliot, a blood donation national facilitator, proposed to Zak before being rushed off for emergency surgery to treat abdominal internal bleeding.
Zak suffered from severe bruising on his hips, where his seatbelt was on his chest and his smartwatch smashed in the impact, embedding glass into his hands.
Elliot had his emergency surgery for internal bleeding mere minutes after he popped the question.